So as soon as Salar heard his father's voice, he halted just where he was. And that saved him, as you will see. _The Elephant Taps Suspicious Ground with his Trunk_ His father came up to him, and looked around carefully. Then he _tapped on the ground with the end of his trunk_. "An elephant must always tap with his trunk when he is coming to suspicious ground, before he puts his foot on it," he said to Salar. "What does suspicious ground mean?" Salar asked. "Ground where there might be danger, though you do not _see_ the danger," his father answered. He went on a couple of yards, tapping the ground before him all the time. Then he suddenly stopped. "Gr-r-r-rump!" he cried, "it sounds strange and hollow!" Most carefully he put his foot forward and _felt_ the ground with it, as an elephant always does when he thinks there is danger. Now the ground _bent down_ a little just where he pressed it with his foot! "I thought so!" he muttered. Then he felt most carefully all along the _front_ edge of the open space, first tapping it with his trunk, then pressing on it with his foot--of course with the toe end of the foot. And all along that front edge of the open space the ground bent down a little wherever he pressed it with his foot. Then he came to the _right side_ of the open space where the banana tree grew, and tried the ground there also along the edge. And this ground too bent down a little wherever he pressed it with his foot. He came to the _back_ of the open space, and tried it in the same way. And there also the ground bent down a little along the edge, wherever he pressed it with his foot. He came around at last to the _left side_, and tried that also. And there again the ground bent down in the same way. "All four sides are suspicious!" he cried. "My son, this is _a most tricky trap_!" And though he did not see them, a dozen men were hiding in the tops of trees all around. They were the hunters kept by a great Prince, who had ordered them to catch the big elephant and also the young one. The hunters had first dug a huge pit. It was ten feet deep and twenty-five feet wide on each side; so it was as big as a large room. Then they had covered the top of the pit by laying many long bamboos right across from side to side and very close to each other; so it was just like the roof of a large room. And on the top of the bamboos they had spread a layer of earth--just like what you have seen in flower beds in a garden; and on that they had planted grass, to make it look quite natural--only, they forgot that it might look natural for a garden, but not for a wild jungle. Or perhaps they thought that an elephant would not know any better!