Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-11-28
A Thrilling Adventure

A Thrilling Adventure,
In the year 1875 | accepted an invi'
cation to visit the Nsilgherry Hill and
the western CHANTS We had very
fine sport of description quite new to
me, but my companions showed incip-
lent signs of fever and hurried back to
Ooty. Shooting alone is stupid work
after youths enthusiasm has worn off,
and | was thinking of vending my
way back, too, when on arriving at
Pullikul the kurderS told Inc they had
lost several men lately from man-eat-
ing tigers. ! instantly remembered
my youthful adventures. 1t is true,
many royal tiger, panther, b6he-
moth, taurus, bear and buffalo, to say
nothing of deer, &c, had fallen by my
hand in the interval : for had been a
persistent and fortunate shikaris ; but
| had never forgotten the panthers of
Neermul, no; the abolninable bath Civ
en- me by one of them, which dis
charged a meal of human flesh into
my face as | plunged my knife into
his heart. | had killed many man-cat-
ers, but had run no great risk from
them, for had generally been mount.
ed on an elephant ; now | determined
to follow them up on foot to the death.
The villagers said they thought there
were couple Of them, a male and fe-
male and that they never went very
far, killing one or two people every
three or four days. pitched my tent
near the village and organized gang
these men are famous trackers, but nc
rain had fallen for many weeks, and
the whereabouts of the fclineS could
not be discovered by their trail : they
were not heard of until some one was
missing. Their depredations extended
for miles around, and the wailing of a
family bereft Of its support was only
too frequent. | went from place to
place, sometimes only accompanied by
one shikarie, Chniah, who had been
with me some years, or with beaters,
trying to drive out these pests but for
three weeks had no luck they were
never at home. At last the brutes
took to killing my men, and | lost two
out of my gang. begged of the rel
atives to allow me to sit over the re.
mains, but they would not removing
the bodies and burning them. True, |
had never been partial to such proceed
ings as night shooting, and l was not
so keen as | had been many years be-
fore; still, | had the dogged disposi-
tion of bulldog, and did not like to
be beaten, yet what was to do? Peo-
pie were constantly killed, and could
get no sight of their slayers. had
one week left | wrote to have bear
ers laid from Coimbatore to the nearest
point to the Anamulles on a certain
day, and despairing of ridding the
country of these animals, l was march
ing along silently. accompanied by my
two shikaries, when | heard what
knew to be a death shrek. | hastened,
almost ran, toward the sound, little
needing what noise l made as | tore
through the jungle, followed by my sat.
elites but l might have known, had
given it thought, that l should
frighten the slayer away. There lay q
wood-cutter, with his skull fractured
by a single blow he had been also
seized by the neck, whence the blood
poured in torrents but the man was
stone dead. Here was my opportunity
the man would not be missed before il
was too late to search for him, so as
had little food with me, determined
to sit over the remains. The moor
was at its brightest; | would not al
low the body to be touched; it lay
partially hidden by some fallen bam
boos; so, telling my men to prepare a
machan on the nearest tree, about ten
yards off, l examined the ground
There was ravine close by, up which
the monster had crept and pounced up
on his victim ; he would probably re.
turn that way. l saw but the marks
of one tiger, while my men declared
they hunted in couples; they the men
were also very reluctant to sit over the
body, being superstitious that they
would ever be hunted afterward, but
knew if l did not avail myself of this
chance I should get no other ; so l was
firm, and told them remain they must
We erected the machan as noiselessly
as possible. Tigers are often driven
off by the nois' men make while pre-.
pairing cache with which to slay