Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-09-29
A Tigers Plaything.

great Jungle OF tne III. TWO uays Journey
north of this
So spoke Col. Petrof Che Russian CON-
mandant 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 life would be blank to
him TIL he had done so.
"And what's the best way to get at
them2n asked the young man, with flash
OF excitement on his handsome face.
.Well, if you're so anxious to make
their acquaintance. said the veteran, smil-
ing at the lads eagerness, ''there are sew
eral ways of doing it. First and foremost,
you can just follow the beasts trail till you
come upon him, and then shoot him down;
but that's rather dangerous, and not very
certain either, for the trails apt to get
blurred in among these big reeds"
''Welll"
"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 moon, they
see you and run away, and If there's not,
you can't see them at all. Thirdly, there's
the cage"
'sThe cage?"
"Yes; you shut yourself up in an iron
cage among the reeds, with a big bit of
horse-tiesh beside it by way of bait, and
when the tiger scents the meat, and comes
after tit, you fire at him."
Capital !" shouted Galkin, with a loud
laugh; ''that's quite new idea. The cage
be ii by all means"
''Well, wouldn't begin with that, if
were you, my boy" said the Colonel,
gravely, 'for it's risky business at best.
A tiger-hunt's very good fun so long as it's
you who are hunting the tiger; but when
the tiger takes to hunting you, 1t alters the
case good deal.
However, Galkin 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
his cap ON, through which, as they sway
ed in the morning breeze, he caught pass
ing glimpse, every now and then, of the
broad, shining river. and the little tumble
down mud novels and clustering trees on
the opposite shore.
III mus Hdl1OA du CANlNLuI
venture is the waiting for it to begin, and
SO our hero found it; but, luckily, he hid
not long to wait. The Central Asian tiger
has keen scent for prey of any kind, ard
the warning crackle of the reeds was
speedily followed by the gliding out of
a huge gaunt yellow body, straight toward
Galkin's ambush.
d spite his perilols rosItionfo the cae
wasaprettyoldone, and Its rusty bars seemed
hardly to be trusted against the rush of a
full-gr0wn tiger, Galkin could scarcely
help laughing al 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 81 the vital spot behind
the fore-shoulder, and let fly.
The huge beast leaped high into the air,
rolled over on its back, and, after a few
convulsive kicks, lay dead before him.
Hurrah. Up sprung Galkin, quite forget
ting the cage in his excitement, and hit
his head such bump against the bars that
for a moment hardly knew where he was.
The shout was answered by long snarl-
ing cry, and out from the reeds broke
second tiger, evidently a young one, al
though quite big enough to have finished
our friend with one bite. Galkin felt for
his cartridge-pouch, to reload for second
shot, when, 10. no pouch was to be found.
And now, to his dismay, he perceived that
II had been off when he jumped up, and
was lying outside the cage, where it had
rolled over slight descent of the land
quite out of his reach
Here was pretty piece of business.
But, if the hunter was al a nonplus, the
tiger himself seemed to be no less so. This
cross barred machine, with u motionless
human figure inside of it. fOr Galkin,
finding himself defenseless, remained rs
still as statHe), was complete puzzle to
him. tie had never seen anything of the
kind before. 1t might be trap. Who
could teli!" On the whole, he appeared
to think that his wisest way was to begin
with the horse-tlesh, which he soon dis
posed ola somewhat disagreeable hint to
Galkin of what might shortly befsll him.
Breakfast over, the tiger-kitten seemed
to wax frolIcksome. He leap"d up against
the cage, and put his fore-paws on the top
OF it, bringing his face 50 near GalkIn's that
the poor Lieutenant almost felt the hot,
rank breath. Suppose the bars were to
give way!"
But what did happen was almost as bad.
Overbalanced by the beasts weight, the
cage rolled over, and the unlucky officer
along with it; while the tiger, delighted
with the sport, and evidently thinking the
whole affair toy meant for his own
special amusement, patted it about with
his huge paws like a cat playing with a
mouse, tumbling it over once or twice, and
bumpling poor Galkin against the bars till
he was pretty well bruised. All at once
there came tremendous crash, as thick
clump of reeds gave way, and splash down
into the river went cage, Galkin and all
Fortunately for our hero, there was
mud-bank close to the shore, SO that the
water only came up to his belt; but, even
so, to sit waIst-deep in cold river for an
indefinite time, with tiger mounting
guard over him, was anything but plea
SAINT prospect. Moreover, the tiger, which
was standing on the bank above, with a
face of great disgust at the loss of its toy,
seemed strongly inclined TO leap down after
it; in which case the sportsman would be
rolled over In deep water, and drowned at
once.
Just at that moment came the sharp
crack of u rifle. The tiger fell headlong
into tie rive,r while Gaikin, looking up, saw
boat coming toward him, pulled by two
Tartars, behind whom appeared the grin
ming face of his frieni, the Colonel.
II hope you like your days sport, my
boy" chuckled the old soldier. as he opened
the cage and pulled out his half-drowned
comrade. 81 was up stream, looking TO
see if could find any game worth firing
at, when heard the crack of your piece,
and came along to see what had happen
ed; and, on the whole, think it's just as
well | did"
Novel Use efthe Telephone.
II is well known that If long dry tube