The Lamoille news. (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1877-1881, 1877-05-30

grandmother has to answer for.
And the reward is to be raised, our
lord the magistrate says, to fifteen
hundred rupees; not that any one is
ikelyto venture in pom that four
footed fiend. On Monday last he
killed the sixth fef1yman at Nagal
Jat." ItJ JNh7 SaN-l"
The animal of which the policeman
spoke was a famous man-eating tiger,
that had for months been the terror of
the neighborhood, and that haunted
the outskirts Of the village, carrying
off, now herd boy, now a girl filling
her brass water-pitcher beside the tank
and especially molesting the solitary
boatman who piled at the Nagal Jat
ferry, no fewer than six of these poor
fellows having perished in the course
of six weeks through the malice of the
man-eater, whose den was believed to
be among the caverned rocks, near
the river. Extra rewards, in addition
to the usual head-money granted, had
been offered by the government for the
destruction of the beast, but he was
too wary to be trapped or poisoned,
while the native shikarries did not
care to risk their skins on such an er-
rand as tracking the enemy to his lair
But fifteen hundred rupeeSl That
hundred and fifty pounds meant much
to man in my case-meant Ernes-
tines safe removal to the breezy sea-
coast near Bombay, where comfort
and change and medical skill would
bring back the hue of health to her
pale cheek, and escape for little Ar
thur from climate unfit for European
children. 1t was adesperate venture,
but still the idea of it took hold ofmy
mind, and | resolved to stand the
hazard.
There was not, in that station,
sportsmen provided with the necessa-
ry outfit for tiger-hunting but had
there been the country was too rough
r. Ii----e.---e H. -
and craft for craft could alone obtain
an advantage over the skulking man
eater. Telling Ernestine that | was
obliged to absent myself on business,
and might not return till late, | left
her under the care of her dydh, and set
off for the ferry Of Nagal Jat. A wild
spot it was amid huge trees, and tall
grass and bushes, and jutting rocks
that overhung the river, where stood
the ferryman's lonely cottage. Six of
his predecessors had fallen victims to
the tiger, and | found the new occu-
pant Of the post in somewhat low
spirits, but resigned, with the strange
fatalism of Orientals, to die, "if it
were so written" | could talk fluent
ly in the yernacular; and easily, by
the means of rupee or two and q
little persuasion, l brought the man to
\ agree to what proposed. .a
An hour before sundown there ar
rived a party of native travellers to
be ferTied across, all Of them with
faces blanched by dread of the terrible
foe that might take toll of their num-
bers, and all of them shouting and sing
ing, and Gathering their swords and
CLUBS, or beating on gourds and drums
to scare away the monster. With
this noisy company | crossed the riv-
er, and, when they had departed on
their route, prepared to return, alone.
: | well remembered that the ferry
men who had been killed by the man
eater had always been assailed on the
way homeward from the river bank to
, the hut where they had dwelt. Or
J this fact had based my simple STRAIT
! egy. Just before sunset, at the houl
e most propitious for a tigers attack,
I stepped alone into the heavy boat
$ and, leaving its owner on the bank
a grasped the rude oars, and roweC
4 Justify toward the other shore. kney
q too well the habits of man-eating ii
gers to be, on this occasion, 'in Euro
: pean garb. Had | worn my custo
n mary attire, it is probable that Nigh
! have passed close by the ambush Q
' the striped foe untouched, for man
n eater excels the fox in suspicious eau
W ton.
wore, now, the scanty attire OF
IS native Of low rank, and had even TAX
a. en- the precaution to daub my nee
d and shoulders with the red ocherou
y clay from the river, lest my white ski
> should awaken doubt in the mind
the lurking brute. On landing,
a made fast the boat, and, selecting IL
in narrowest and least trodden of ii
" paths that led through the bushes an
At tall jungle grass, advanced with lei
lie urly step toward the hut; AS ! d