Connecticut western news., 1880-11-10
A TIGERS PLAYTHING.
Exciting Experience of Young
 Lieutenant in Central Asia,


 "Well, my boy, if you want tiger you've come to the right place, for this and the bit round Fort Perovski are almost the only spots on the whole river where there are any left indeed, I might say the only spots in all Gen. tral Asia, except the great jungle of the Hi, two days journey north of this."
 So spoke Col. Petroff, the Russian commandant of the little outpost of Tchinaz, on the Upper Syr-Daria, to his excited junior officer, Lieut. Galkin, who had made up his mind that the first duty of every right-minded officer was to shoot tiger single-handed, and that his life would be blank to him till he had done so.
 "And what's the best way to get at them ?" asked the young man, with 8 flush of excitement on his handsome face.
 "Well, if you're so anxious to make smiling at the lads eagerness, "there are several ways of doing it. First and foremost, you can just followth beasts trail till you come upon him, and then shoot him down; but that's rather dan gerous, and not very certain, either, for the trails apt to get blurred in among them big trees."
 "Well? ?"
 "Well, secondly, you can drift along the bank in @ boat, and fire at 'em as they come down to drink but that's not always certain, because if there's 8 moon, they see you and run away, and if there's not you can't see them at all. Thirdly, there's the cage"
 "The cage?"
 "Yes; you shut yourself up in an iron cage among the reeds, with big bit of horse flesh beside it by way of @ bait, and when the tiger scents the meat and comes after it you can fire at him."
 "Capi tal!' shouted Galkin, with a loud laugh; "that's quite a new idea. The cage be it, by all means"
 "Well, I wouldn't begin with that if I were you, my boy" said the Colonel gravely, "for it's risky business at best. A tiger hunt is very good fun so long as it's you who are hunting the tiger; but when the tiger takes to hunting you it alters the case a good deal"
 However, G alkin was not to be moved, and daybreak next morning found him in his cage among the huge reeds (tall enough to overtop six foot grenadier with cap on), through which, as they swayed in the morning breeze, he caught a passing glimpse, every now and then, of the broad shining river.
 The most trying part of an exciting adventure is the waiting for it to begin, and so our hero found it; but luckily he had not long to wait. The Central Asian tiger has a keen scent for prey of any kind, and the warning crackle of the reeds was speedily followed by the gliding out of huge, gaunt yellow body straight toward Galkin's ambush.
 Despite his perilous position for the cage was pretty old one, and its rusty bars seemed hardly to be trusted against the rush of full-grown tiger), Galkin could scarcely help laughing at this curious reversal of menagerie rules the man in the cage and the wild beast walking round it to look at him. But he was not the man to let either the joke or the danger unsteady his hand. He aimed carefully at the vital spot be- hind the fore shoulder, and let fly.
 The huge beast leaped high into the air, rolled over on his back, and after a few convulsive kicks lay dead before him. Hurrah psprung Gallzin, quite forgetting the cage in his excitement, and hit his head such 8 bump against the bars that for moment he hardly knew where he was.
 The shout was answered by long, snarling cry, and out from the reeds broke 0 second tiger, evidently Q young one, although quite big enough to have finished our friend with one bite. Galkin felt for his cartridge pou oh te eload for second shot, when, To! nc pouch was to be found.
 But if the hunter was at nonplus, the tiger himself seemed to be not less so. This cross bar red machine, with { motionless human figure inside of i (for Galkin, finding himself defenceless ct1 ta { complete puzzle to him. He had never seen anything of the kind before. Il might be trap. Who could tell? Or the whole, he appeared to think that his wisest way was to begin with tho horsefesh, which he soon disposed of @ somewhat disagreeable hint to Galkir of what might shortly befall him.
 Breakfast over, the tiger kitter seemed to wax frolicsome. He leapec up against the cage, and put his fore paws on the top of it, bringing his face so near Galkin's that the poor lieuten ant almost felt the hot, rank breath Suppose the bars were to give way!
 But what did happen was almost Q bad. Overbalanced by the beast weight, the cage rolled over and the un lucky officer along with it, while tho tiger, delighted with the sport, and evi dently thinking the whole affair to, meant for his own special amusement patted it about with his huge paws lik, cat playing with mouse, tumblin! it over once CT twice and pumping poo Galkin against the bars till he wa pretty we'll bruised. All at once ther came tremendous crash, as 6 thic clump of reeds gave way and splasl