The wild animals pursue Elmer as an invader

The pursuit of Elmer Elevator on Wild Island grows from a chain of clues that the animals read as evidence of an invasion. What begins as a doubtful discussion of tangerine peels and a missing rock becomes an organized search, then a stampede toward the river when the animals see Elmer crossing on a bridge of Crocodiles. Their alarm turns a rescue attempt into a direct confrontation: they believe the stranger is coming for Baby Dragon, whom they have made to carry passengers across the river.

Signs of an Invasion

The animals’ suspicions first emerge in a nighttime conversation between two Wild Boars. They list three signs: fresh tangerine peels beneath a wahoo bush near the Ocean Rocks; a Mouse’s report of an extraordinary rock that was no longer there when it was investigated; and more tangerine peels at that second location. Because Tangerines do not grow on Wild Island, one boar reasons that someone must have brought them across the Ocean Rocks. The missing rock and the fruit might be connected, though even the suspicious boar presents that connection as uncertain.

The second Wild Boar resists the theory. The peels, it suggests, could have floated over by themselves, while the Mouse’s report is unreliable; if an invasion had occurred, the boar believes it would have seen it. The pair end their discussion and return to the jungle without resolving the question. Their exchange establishes the pursuit’s comic, provisional beginnings: the animals have clues, but no direct sighting, and their first response is to discount the evidence as readily as they assemble it.

Elmer overhears them and changes how he travels. Having learned that the peels give him away, he saves them rather than leaving them behind. The precaution does not erase the trail already made, and later he continues to discard the peels he saves as he eats. The animals’ case against an intruder therefore rests on real traces of his passage, even as they interpret those traces through their own incomplete understanding.

From Suspicion to Search

On a trail through the island, Elmer comes upon the same Wild Boars again. One recounts that tortoises had thought they saw a Monkey carrying its sick grandmother to the doctor, although the grandmother had died a week earlier. To the boars, the mistaken report is another indication that something unusual has been moving through the area. One now insists an invasion is under way and says it cannot stand invasions.

The boars turn suspicion into a plan. One is to search up the trail toward Baby Dragon; the other will return through the big clearing. They also assign the Mouse to watch the Ocean Rocks in case the supposed invader tries to leave before they find it. The search thus covers both a route toward the captive dragon and a possible route of escape. Elmer hides behind a mahogany tree as a boar passes, then follows after allowing it a head start. He knows that the sight of Seven Tigers chewing gum in the clearing will make the boars more suspicious, but continues toward his goal.

Later, hungry and under a baby banyan tree, Elmer eats four Tangerines from the thirteen he has left and packs away the peels. The Wild Boars’ voices reach him again. One reports that all the Seven Tigers are occupied chewing gum and that the Rhinoceros is busy brushing its tusk, apparently too distracted to pay attention to passersby. The other rejects this account and presses on with its investigation. The animals’ observations are becoming more specific, but the distractions Elmer has created also make their familiar surroundings seem increasingly strange to them.

The River Crossing Becomes a Chase

At the river, Elmer finds the apparatus used to summon Baby Dragon: a rope runs over a high flagpole and around a crank, with a sign instructing users to summon the dragon and report disorderly conduct to the Gorilla. Elmer understands that the rope is tied around Baby Dragon’s neck and that the system forces him to cross the river when the Gorilla operates it. The pursuit therefore develops around more than an unexplained trespass. The animals are guarding a ferry whose service depends on Baby Dragon’s captivity, while Elmer is trying to reach and free him.

As Elmer crosses the river on the backs of Crocodiles, using lollipops to make the animals form a bridge, the noise of the Seven Tigers, Rhinoceros, two Lions, Gorilla, and other animals grows louder. The Wild Boars lead the crowd. They have concluded that the bridge is a trick, that an invasion is happening, and that the intruder is after their dragon. When one boar spots Elmer on the Crocodiles, the pursuit acquires a clear target: the animals hurry onto the improvised crossing after him. Elmer is nearly across, but must keep placing lollipops for the remaining Crocodiles while the crowd follows.

Baby Dragon recognizes that Elmer has come to rescue him and runs out of the bushes, calling for him to hurry and warning that a boar is crossing too. Elmer reaches him and begins sawing through the large rope with his jackknife. By then both Wild Boars, all seven tigers, the two lions, the Rhinoceros, the Gorilla, and the rest of the pursuing crowd are on their way across. The chase has carried the animals to the very place where their control over Baby Dragon is maintained; Elmer’s immediate task is to cut the rope before they reach him. He considers that, if necessary, they can fly back across the river and finish cutting it on the other side, but the pursuit is still closing in at this point.

Significance

The animals’ pursuit is driven by a series of misread but materially grounded signs. Tangerine peels mark Elmer’s passage; the Mouse’s report and the boars’ searches add uncertainty and urgency; gum, grooming, and the crocodile bridge make ordinary animal behavior look like evidence of a larger plot. The boars’ investigation is both comic and consequential: their suspicion is often mistaken, yet their final conclusion identifies Elmer’s actual purpose. He has come for Baby Dragon, though not to harm him.

That reversal clarifies the conflict between the animals’ language of invasion and the conditions they defend. They treat the rescue as an attack on their ferry service, while the rope and crank reveal that this service rests on Baby Dragon being held and compelled to work. The animals’ rush to protect him consequently exposes the unequal arrangement behind their convenience. Elmer’s crossing brings the rescue and the pursuit into the same scene, turning his effort to reach Baby Dragon into a race against the island’s organized resistance.