OUR BACKYARD CIRCUS 121 



woiild blow from him to us and not reveal our 

 presence. An elephant supposedly has poor eye- 

 sight, although I have a suspicion this theory may be 

 one to his natural indifference to other living beings, 

 acquired through centiuies of practical immunity 

 from attack. At any rate, it is sometimes possible 

 to get right up to him if one watches the wind. The 

 trouble is that on a hot calm day little breezes whirl 

 about so capriciously one is betrayed no matter how 

 much trouble is taken. We hustled the camera 

 boys and gun bearers along imtil we were within 

 about fifty yards of the big fellow. Oiu: safari 

 column was well away and there seemed to be no 

 other game present except the elephant. This was 

 providential because it meant that he would Hkely go 

 on about his business long enough for us to make a 

 good film and plenty of stills. 



Luck played into oiu* hands. Gradually our jumbo 

 wandered closer and closer. Osa was bursting with 

 excitement. The natives could scarcely restrain 

 their exclamations of delight as well as of appre- 

 hension. The high point came when he was little 

 more than twenty feet away, literally towering above 

 us. He chose a tree that was too strong for him to 

 break with his trunk, so he put his brains to work as 

 well as his muscles. Pulling the sapling down as far 

 as it would go with his trunk, he held it with his tusks 

 while he reached up and got a new hold. He 



