Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1879-08-06

4
Up ne got again, however, and hestow-
ing look of rage and pain on his paw,
which he held up for the purpose, ne
gave howl which | shall not forget III
hurry, and continued his staggering
course toward us. He was now about
four yards in front of us, with his ch est
exposed. l immediatly deposited a
ball in it, and the brute fell, but rose
almost instantly; fired again; the tiger
came down, but still again he rose. l
came to the conclusion that the beast
was not born to be killed. All this pass
ed in couple of minutes, which ap-
peared hours to us, aud when ne came
up quite close we had only empty bar
rels and no means of loading, turn
ed round in hope of finding gun, but
tripped and fell almost Immediately.
The last shikaree's wits escaped with
our last shot, he stumbled with spear
he had In his hand, and ran it through
the leg of one of my companions, bring
ing him to the ground as if he had been
shot. | had hardly been down half a
minute, when the tiger seized me; his
teeth rang together like castanets AS
they met in the tieshy part of my leg.
We both rolled over together to the
| place where my friend had ust
been brought to the ground by the
spear. The tiger, letting 60 of me, now
attacked my friend, whose arm and knee
he bit and tore severely. Although close
together, we could see nothing of each
other, on account of the thick jungle,
but | heard smothered, MUNICH
ing, growing sound, and torn
bleeding, hatless figure rose hom my
side and rushed down the hill l in
stantly did the same, while our other
friend ran up a tree. My wounded
companion, more exhausted than |,
fell first in some long grass at the bot
tom of the slope, ana l, managing
few yards NJ ore, gained the summit of
a small bank, from which | could view
the scene of our well-deserved disaster.
First and foremost, full IN sight, and
most uncomfortably close, was the
tiger. most indisputably monarch of all
he surveyed" walking up and down,
lashing his tail, and roaring hideously.
Perched on the top of slender tree
was one of my friends, exchanging
looks with the tiger. Suddenly the
the branch broke, and down he came
within three yards of the savage beast
He ran quickly up hill TO where ] was,
and fortunately the brute was too
much exhausted to attempt to follow
him.
The heaters now re-appeared, and
stated that one of their number was up
in tree, under which the tiger was
sitting, and that he had n loaded gun
with him. oTo much wounded to
move away, the brute deliberately
watched his victim. At last the man,
bringing his rifle down to within foot
of the tigers head, fired, and missed!
The inflriated beast reared himself up
against the tree, and glaring at the man
as only tiger can glare, gave terrific
roar, and suddenly man and rifle came
humping down to the ground. The
tiger bit a piece out of his side, and
left him, and he rolled down the hill.
His companions, who had been
helpless spectators, now rushed to his
rescue, picked him up, and hurried
away with him to his village. They
would have left us to our fate if my
friend and ! had not each seized two
men, and calling our shikarees, insisted
on their remaining to help us move
our wounded comrade. Our position
now was remarkably pleasant: two out
of three of us were wounded, one was
quite lnsensible it was nearly dark,
and there was no moon, and that iiend
of tiger was still within fifty yards of
us, making night hideous with his roar
ing. Our companion was severely
bitten in the left arm and leg, and
utterly helpless. We cut down sap
ling, and improvised hammock in
which to convey him to our camp, and
it took every available man to carry
him. shuilled along with the bel p of
a stick, and SO we started on that weary
egh-nlile night march to our tents.
Medical assistance having been sent
for, our wounds were attended to next
day, and we were conveyed, crippled
and disheartened, into the station we
had left rejoicing only five days prev
ously, disguised at the sudden termina-
ton to our leave, but thankful for our
wonderful escape. Ny comrade had to
leave the service, as his wounds rem
dered him permanently inefficient. As
for me, some months on a eick-bed gave
me plenty of time to mediate on tigers
and the proper method ofhuntng them.
| have killed many since then, but have
never forgotten the lesson | was forced
to learn that day, when | got my first
and, | trust, my last tiger bite.