Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1879-10-22

I
Immediately was making my way
down the decent, jumping, sliding and
catching tue branches, by way of a
brake, until finally l reached the
bottom, with momentum which COM
pelled me to run a rod or so before /
could check myself.
1 turned as quickly as possible, but
could see nothing of the tiger skin.
This I concluded, however, vas merely
due to change in our relative posi-
tions, and l moved toward the bush
underneath which | Lad seen ii a few
minutes before.
When the spot was reached, the
tiger-skin had vanished. | stood dunn
founded. There was no mistake as to
the locality, and the mystery was in.
comprehensive.
There seems 10 be some magic gong
on here
A rustllng of the leaves attracted my
notice, and, turning my head, there
stood the tiger-skn withlp fifty feet
1t was alive and bristling with fury. In.
stead OF the shawl, it was the terrible
creature itself which lay beneath the
bush.
l was surprised, as you may say, to
find myself confronted by the most
dreaded denIzen Of the Asiauc jungle.
and 1 stood staring at him, loaded aun
in hand, as if l were undecided az to
what to do about ii.
But tiger never shows indecislon at
such times, and l have no doubt the
animal looked upon me then as his
game 10 dead certainty.
There was something horribly
fascinating in the appearance Of the
tiger, with his tail irregularly waving
from side to side, his long, white,
dagger.like teeth displayed, his huge
greensh eyes ahame with passion, while
a cavcrnous growl issued from his
vitals.
During that second or two that we
confronted each other, | sdIscevered
another thing. The skin or shawl for
which was seaching lay on the ground
between the tiger and me.
Il speedily recovered from my paral-
| ysis and comprehended that If there was
a call for excellent Workmanship it had
now co me. If l could shoot and Kill
the tiger, that was the end oft; if
should miss or only wound him, thai
would be the end Of me. And the worst
phase Of it all was that, owing to the
tenaclty OF the tigers life, tits almost
impossible to wound him so as to in
capacllate HIM on the instant. He will
often tear round and make horrible
havoc, when half dozen balls are in
him, and he mortally wounded.
AN this was we'll known 10 mt
when I raised my gun and took delber
ate aim at the breast. l held my firt
until it was evident from the twitchins
fthe muscles and that restless gather
Ing himself for spring.
| At that instant pulled the trigger
A curious result followed. The bal
passed directly through the right eye o
the animal and out again in the neigh
borhood of the ear. The shock at tn
very instant OF leaping, aud the sudder
blotling out ofhalf OF his vision, destroy
ed for a time his power of co.ordinat
ing.
Il sprang aside the instant after pull
ing the trigger, but it was useless. TIL
tiger truck six feet from where stood
and then, instead of following me up
seemed TO become wild and bewlldered
He acted as if he imagined a splinte
had been thrust into his eye. He KEEP
flirting his paw against the side OF hl
head, when he ..also leaned over an
rubbed upon the ground in the effort t
remove the annoyance. / did not leav
+, my remarkable advantage unimproved
This can-can was not likely to con
, tinue long, when the infuriated beas
would go for me with vengeance.
The nearest tree was rod dstan
and l ran for that. No such desperat
climbing was ever witnessed as di:
=, played for the next few seconds /; bu
!. | ascended and perched myself at th
=, highest point which would sustain mi
;, then l stared about, and saw that
blunder was committed. l was lie:
, than ten feet above the earth, and I'll
trunk was already bending beneath N
weight, and within a half dozen yar(
was another tree, which would hay
permitted me to climb to double tn,
, height. and beyond the reach Of Il
brute. In my trepldation this in
portant fact was unobscryed.
70 - Perhaps can still do it, was Il
thought which instantly torlared me.
y. made a move TO descend, and the
= checked myself in perfect rack
: doubt as to what was the best course
in pursue.
W The proper thing was to reload n
70 gun on the instant, and l proceed 20
re so without further delay, almost lJnd'
at ing myself cross visioned in the efft
C. to keep one eye upon the tiger. I
nd latter's antics were almost indesc
". bable. He darted here aud there, ba
vi and forth, toward every point OF t
compass, rsbbed the wounded side
a his head against the ground, whisked
az with his paw, growled, snarled a
ux raised himself on his hind legs and th
An suddenly became still and stared arou