i6o SAFARI 



up with their own young the orphans must band 

 together for mutual protection. 



Of course we never were able to make a study of 

 the animals until we saw them in an imdisturbed 

 state at or near a waterhole. One scorching day I 

 sat reading in my blind. The animals outside were 

 logy with the awful heat. A miasma of white dust 

 filled the air, kicked up by the thousands of hoofs 

 milling about me. This dust prevented good pho- 

 tography ; but I hoped the air would clear later in 

 the day. 



Suddenly I heard something picking away at the 

 roof of my shelter on the side away from the water- 

 hole. "Ah-ha," I thought, "that baboon again." 

 One had been annoying me for some time. "Now 

 I'll get him." 



Quietly laying down my book, I crept to the 

 S-shaped passage through which we entered and 

 stuck my head out, ready to club the knave who had 

 the temerity to tamper with my edifice. To my 

 surprise there was not an animal in sight, save a herd 

 of wildebeest and zebra some distance away. I 

 craned my neck about, still hoping that I might 

 ambush the intruder. In my hand I gripped a light 

 stick with which I hoped to get in at least one blow of 

 chastisement. 



Deciding that the baboon had heard me coming 

 out and had run away, I was about to return to my 



