Umboo, the Elephant

by Howard R. Garis

Lost! "I can find my way back again, after I have knocked over a tree for myself," he thought to himself. "It will be easy." While the elephant boy passed many trees with palm nuts, not until he found an extra-large tree did he put his head up against it. He pushed with all his might. Then over it went, the roots pulling loose from the soft, wet ground. "Ah, ha! That's the way to do it," laughed Umboo, tearing off a large branch. "I'll take this back to the herd with me!" Perhaps it was the steamy fog, rising all around him, that puzzled Umboo. And most certainly he was puzzled -- for, when he had been walking quite a distance, he suddenly stopped and listened. "This is strange," he said to himself. "I don't hear any elephants. And I ought to be back with the herd now!"

108 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Howard Roger Garis graduated from Binghamton High School and attended Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken, New Jersey. From 1896 to 1947, Mr. Garis was a reporter and special writer for the Newark, New Jersey "Evening News." His Uncle Wiggily stories first appeared in the "News" in 1910, were sydicated in 1915, and continued to be published for more than forty years, at one time appearing in one hundred newspapers.

Howard R. Garis wrote 35 volumes of Uncle Wiggily stories under his own name, as well as numerous other children's books under several pseudonyms. Among series Garis contributed to are Tom Swift (as Victor Appleton), the Bobbsey Twins (as Laura Lee Hope), the Motor Boys (as Clarence Young), the Great Marvel series, and books featuring Baseball Joe (as Lester Chadwick) and the Camp Fire Girls (as Marion Davidson). He also wrote "With Force of Arms" (1902), four volumes of the Rocket Riders series, and seven volumes of the Teddy series. His wife, Lilian McNamara Garas, whom he married in 1900, collaborated on several of his books including the Bobbsey Twins volumes.

He had a son, Roger.