Ruhu-Sahib. What's the matter? Hurry up? Too damn hot! Waiter! Give him some beer. And I want some beer.
Cornac. Madame says elephants must not drink beer.
Ruhu-Sahib. Madame says too much so as not to pay for the beer. I pay for the beer. A bottle for me, a barrel for the elephants!
Mr. Jacob enters.
Jacob. Ruhu! Ruhu! One of the elephants has broken loose. He has smashed the bars of his cage. Two hundred francs! And the worst of it is, he won't perform.
Ruhu-Sahib. He will, he will perform. Poor beast! He do no harm. He is a gentle animal.
Jacob. If you don't hurry and do something to the brute
Ruhu-Sahib. Nero harm no one. You don't know him. I know him. Wait! He is the gentlest of the seven.
Jacob. And don't drink so much. The people see how you are, and so do the elephants.
Ruhu-Sahib. What do they see? I know what they see; and I know what the elephants see. I drink, oh, I drink! But I know what I drink.
Jacob. Ma andate al diavolo! Damn rascal!
Rosina and Pepita detain Mr. Jacob.
Rosina. You are not angry, Mr. Jacob?
Jacob. That Hindu savage costs me twelve thousand francs besides the feed of his animals! And don't his animals feed! And the public will have none of them; seen once, seen for always. A fine piece of business! Bah! Business? People see the audience, then they see me; they say: "Ah! Mr. Jacob! Fortunate man! Theatre full, receipts enormous, le maximum tous les soirs." But they don't see behind the scenes; they don't know what artists are; they don't understand management, business
