The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-09-18
Perils of the Chase.
Deadly Eneounter with Man-Ent.r.

man IN late tiger ARRAY at Secundera-
bad: Yes, have had very, very mar
row shave from man eater but, thank
God, l am not tigers meat as yet, and
may never be so long rs have O good
weapon and good eye. Such mirac-
ulous escape no man ever had, and /
doubt whether any sportsman living
has ever cheated tiger out of his prey
as l have done. have been working
in very wild piece of country the last
three months, and on account of the
high grass and having no leisure, was
unable to follow up any large game,
although tigers were roaming around
me and elephants committing havoc.
The hills have lately been on fire, and
the long grass cleared away, and L had
just completed the field work of n most
important irrigation project, when, on
the evening of the 23d, ktubb,v came
to me of fresh human victim added to
those which had fallen to monster of a
man-eater. So troublesome was the
brute, that when out mt work, we were
always afraid of being carried away.
One man was walked out of my camp a
month ago. Knowing this to be pucka
Mubbur, loaded my express cartridges
and ordered my camp to the nearest
village. four miles off. The next morn
ing early 1 started alone with my shika-
ree-a first-class man, having been one
uf Nightingale's men. We arrived near
the kill, but owing to the thickness of
the bushes 1 could not see the brute
although Lcould hear the crunching of
bone. L moved cautiously toward him,
when there was a sudden bound, and he
was off. I just got one more glimpse of
a part of his body, but did not fire, as l
had not fair shot. He went on, and I
marked him some distance off going
into a small cane field. 1 followed up,
but found the spot dangerous, SO decid-
ed on going for beaters and returning
after breakfast Accordingly at twelve
l returned with about eighty men, ac-
companied by young friend named
O., who was most anxious to see q
tiger hunt-a good little fellow, and
one whose memory deeply lament.
On arrival at the ground I pointed
out to the beaters the cane the beast
had gone into, and directed them to
beat up toward me, where posted my
self about thirty yards off on large
rock, some fifteen feet from the ground.
My friend, my shikaree, and myself,
taking our places close 10 each other.
the beat began and ended without signs
of the brute, and [ was much disgusted
and disappointed, and was returning to
camp. On my way 1 walked up to
within five yards of the cane had seen
him go into in the morning, and pointed
ont the place to my young friend G..
We both sat down and chatted for about
ten minutes, when my shirakee pro-
posed a beat over the same ground
toward US. 1 directed them to COM
mence, at the same time expecting
nothing to appear, as the noise and
hubbub the beaters had made would
have driven the devil himself out. Be-
fore the beat commenced ordered my
shikaree, village shikaree and poor
young G-to go up tree close to
where we had been sitting, and 1 took
my stand at the roots, my maistry,
Ramiah, being behind me. The beat
commenced, and had hardly progressed
more than fifty yards when from the
very cane ont rushed the man. eater,
greatly infuriated, and not more than
four yards from me. He stood for one
instant and then sprang at me. I
dropped on one knee and received him
in his spring, having only time to fire
the first barrel and hold up my rifle to
ward off the blow he aimed at me. The
rifle was knocked out of my hands, and
| was sent spinning over with my
maistry. For some time we two with
the tiger were rolling over together,
and 1 saw that my shot had broken his
jaw, which was hanging down. This
to1 L.
teeth, and probably the blow from the
express bullet at such close quarters
stunned or blinded him for the moment,
as otherwise he must have damaged
us more than he did. got up, reel
ed and fell again, and must have
been unconscious from the blow for
about a minute. When / recovered
myself I saw the monster two yards
from me, reared up against the tree
and mauling some one.
My first impulse was to seize my rifle,
and this found on top of a bush close
by. tried to cock it, but found that
the stop bolt was SO jammed forward
against the cock by the blow that the
latter would not move. then tried to
open the breech to use the barrel I had
fired, but found the lever bent back so
frightfully that nothing could be done.
Just then the animal bounded away
with roar l never shall forget. To my
horror and deepest regret [ found my
poor young friend, whom I had placed
for safety in the tree, had fallen a VIC
tim to this brute ] rushed forward
Immediately, and with the aid of my
maistry was carrying away the poor
young fellow, who was insensible, when
the tiger charged again ! Having no
weapons to protect ourselves with, we
dropped young G. as quietly as we
could, and ran to q tree twenty yards
off. The animal came up to G.,
smelt him all over and then sat down
beside him, wishing, no doubt, to make
a meal Of him, but his broken jaw,
which was hanging, must have pre-
vented this did not know what to
do. Here was helpless, not n weapon
available all the beaters had bolted,
and the sun with q vengeance was
blazing on my bare head. was feeling
faint, as [ had only just recovered from
anillness which had weakened me much.
/ at last got desperate, descended from
the tree, and ran on to some ten beaters,
who, with my servants, were upin trees.
These / collected, and fortunately they
had two tomtoms with them. L took
one of them myself, and heading the
beaters we walked toward the brute,
making a great row. He could not stand
this, so he sneaked away into the jun
gle. We then rushed on, picked up the
young man, and were retiring, when he
again charged out OF a bush. The