Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1882-05-25

putting my hand to my belt, / found
that in my hasty ascent, my one wea-
pom had fallen to the ground, and now
lay, glistening beneath the feet of the
furious 1uckabagga.'
True, had hunting-knife. but that
would not avail to save me from those
death-dealing claws, once they came
near enough TO seize upon me.
had only one forlorn hope left me
now, to climb higher and higher, until
l found branch which would bear
my weight, but not that of the terrible
man-eater, for with all his ferocity, he
is like an elephant, veritable coward,
as to trusting himself upon an insuffi-
Gent foothold, and is wonderfully keen
in detecting branches that will not
bear his weight. |, therefore, climbed
higher, but soon perceiving the mena-
cling growls came no nearer, l paused
to look down. Who can describe my
thankfulness at discovering that my
one hasty shot had, after all, done good
service. One OF those fearful forepaws
was broken, and it was in vain that the
maddened creature leaped again and
again, in the endeavor to climb the
tree and secure his prey. His climbing
days were over, as felt with thrill
of exultation, 80 slipped down again
to the lower branches and placing N.Y.
self as comfortably as 1 might be
among them, resolved to wait quietly
until my enemy should depart.
Becoming convinced at length that
he could not reach me, the luckabagga
evidently made up his mind to starve
me out, so he lay quietly down beneath
the tree, contenting himself with lick
ing his wounded paw and winking his
red eyes at me, as much as to say,
never mind, my boy, I'll have you az
ter awhile And truly, 1 began to
think he would, for as the hours rolled
on and night approached, became ter
rlbly cramped and faint with hunger,
and moreover came the fear that /
might in spite of myself, drop asleep
and fall from the tree.
1t was in vain that shouted and
flung down my cap, my belt, my below
ed entomologists' box, with all its ar
ray of bottles and insect-preserving
powders. my beseiger was not to be
frightened away.
Night came on and the leopard still
lay beneath the tree. | could see the
CLEAN of his hungry eyes fixed upon
me through the darkness. | was be.
coming drowsy. when my attention
was attracted by the noise of some
creature crashing through the jungle
near by and the next moment there
came fierce roar, answered by anoth.
er from my beseiger. And then such
a roaring, growing, Kissing, snarling
and tumbling, as went on in the dense
shadow of the tree, [ hope never to
hear again; it was evident that duel
10 the death was going on, though |
could only see the CLINT of two pairs
of red eyes.
For ten minutes did the combat rage.
and then the uproar gradually died
away, until only an occasional moan
could be heard, and after awhile this
too. ceased, and total silence succeed
ed. How anxiously waited for day-
light to reveal my position; whether
prisoner or freeman, may easily be con-
ceived. When the blessed sun did at
length send down his rays upon the
scene, / fairly shouted aloud i'm the
my joy at the spectacle that met nv
sight. Ny enemy of the night before
lay dead. nearly torn to pieces, while
stretched at his side, lay his assailant,
a magnificent tiger; the latter bore no
marks upon him save few scratches.
yet he was dead, as proved before de.
scending, by throwing my boots down
upon him. Within two minutes after
sure of this fact, was on NV
knees beside the splendid carcass. be-
fore whose superior strength it was
evident my own particular enemy had
gone down, an end TO which his broken
leg had no doubt contributed; but TO
what the tiger owed his death, could
not perceive, as he had scarcely a
scratch upon him. But the mystery
was solved when came upon the frag-
ments of a bottle that had held the |
cyanide of potassium l carried with |
me for the preservation of insect spec |
linens. 1t had been in the box l had |
thrown down in hopes Of frightening |
the leopard, and during the brief COM |
bat 1t had no doubt got broken and the |
powder becoming rubbed into the |
wounds of the Inckabagga' had been
ABSORBED in the flesh eaten by the tiger,
and thus had the slayer's appetite slain
himself and preserved me; for if he
had lived, l should ultimately have
fallen into his clutches, l make no
loubt.
You may rest assured that lost no
lime in making my way back to the
village, where the exhibition of the
,ails of the dreaded man-eater and the
scarcely less feared tiger, caused the
demonstrations of joy, in
| shared, not alone because of
ny miraculous escape, but because / at
asst held in my hand those coveted
)eetles.- Southern World.