Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-10-22

speedily recovered from my paralysis
and comprehending that if ever there wa!
a call for excellent workmanship it hat
now come. If could shoot and kill The
tiger, that was the end of it; if shoulC
miss or only wound him, that would b,
the end OF me. And the worst phase of i
all was that, owidg to the tenacity of til,
tlger's life, it is almost impossible tc
wound him so as to incapacitate hin
wholly. He will often tear round anc
make horrible havoc when half doz Il
balls are in him and he is inortally wound
ed.
All this was well known to me when
raised my gun and took deliberate aim al
the beast. held my fire until it was evi
dent from the twitching of the muscle,
that he was gathering himself for spring
AT that moment pulled the trigger. A
curious result followed. The ball passed
directly through the right eye of the ami
NAL and oat again thro' the neighborhood
of the ear. The shock at the very mo.
ment of leaping, and the sudden blotting
out of half of his vision, destroyed for a
time bis power of discrimination.
sprang aside the moment after pulling
the trigger, but it was useless. The tiger
struck six feet from where stood, and
then, instead of following me up, seemed
to become wild and bewildered. He acted
rs if he imagined n splinter had been
thrust into his eye; he kept flirting his
paw against the side Of his head, which
he also leaned over and rubbed upon the
ground in the effort to remove the annoy
ance. | did uot leave my remarkable
advantage unimproved. This can-can was
not likely to continue long, when the in
furiated beast would 60 for me with a
vengeance.
The nearest tree was Il rod of.and ran
to it. No such desperate climbing was
ever witnessed as displayed for the next
few seconds: but | ascended, and perched
myself on the highest point which would
sustain me, then l stared about, and saw
what blunder was made; was less than
ten feet above the earth. and the tree was
already bending beneath my own weight,
and within half dozen yards was another
tree, which would have allowed me to
climb to double that height and beyond
the reach of the brute In my trepidation
this important fact was unobserved.
Perhaps | can still do twas the thought
which at once occurred to me, | made a
move to descend, and then checking my
self in perfect rack of doubt IS to what
was the best plan to pursue.
The proper thing was to reload my gun
at once, and proceeded to do so without
further delay, almost rendering myself
cross visioned in the effort to keep one eye
upon my wepon and the other upon the
tiger. The animals antics were almost
indescribable. He darted here and there,
back and forth, toward every part of the
compass, rubbing the wounded side of his
head against the ground. whisked it with
his paw, growled, snarled, and raised HIM
self on his hind legs, and then suddenly
became still, and stared around him. He
was searching for me, e,and my gun was but
just one half loaded.
Would he look upp was the inquiry
which instantly thrilled me. stopped
reloading my rifle, for fear the movement
and slight noise would draw his attention
to me; but it will be remembered that
was some distance off, and my elevation
was unimportant, and the angle of vision
was so slight that if he gazed in my d.
rection and simply along the ground, he
could not fail to see me.
Such seemed to be the case. All at once
he deserted me, and came directly toward
the tree. Reaching the proper point, he
made one of his tremendous bounds, and
closed my eyes, with prayer to Heaven,
sure that my last moment had come.
But that distortion of vision caused him
to miss the tree altogether, and he struck
the ground upon the other side with dull
thump, without having grazed me. There
he paused and looked up, puzzled and
growing. l improved this respite to finish
my reloading, and before he stirred from
the spot gave him second charge which
finished him.
then descended, picked up the shawl,
and returned to my friends, Three days
later we made our way into Havelock's
lines and were safe.