Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-09-19
INTERVIEWED BY A TIGER.
A Story of Northern India.

A Story of Northern India.
"Tiger-hunting's very good fun in its
way,' said Mi. K. as we sat in the
veranda of his bungalow (house) ono
fine July evening, watching the sur
sink over the rocks that o%verhung the
Nerbudda River. ''It's very good fun
at least, SO long as you're hunting the
tiger; but when the tiger takes to hunt.
ing you. it's not quite so Jolly.
"But, although I've had some mar
row escapes in that way, too, I'd sooner
have them all twice over than one such
adventure as happened to me close to
this very spot, about six years ago.
lin those days, as you may think. the
place looked very different from what it
does now. Tie railway wasn't ever
begun then. and [ was the only white
man for miles round.
"All this clearing was as thick as a
hat-brush, with trees and iungles right
down to the waters edge, and if you
wanted to go anywhere, your only
chance was to look out for some place
where an elephant had crushed his way
through the thickets, and then follow
his track.
81 don't believe you'dhave slept very
sound here in those times. / can prom
Use you L didn't for the first mouth OF
sc. No sooner did it get dark than
you'd hear a row like fifty cracked
trumpets all blowing at once, and by
that you would know that an elephant
was coming down to drink at the river.
''Ther that would wake up the crcco
diles in the mud along the bank, andin
a minute they'd all be splashing and
believing in chorus, one louder than
another.
''Then the monkeys in the trees
overhead would begin squeaking and
chattering and bowling like mad.
'Then that would arouse some dread
full old native bird, whose name [ could
never find out (perhaps no one had
ever been able to invent one bad
enough for it), and it would start
shrieking away as if somebody was be-
ing murdered.
"And then, all at once, there would
come rolling through the depths of the
forest the roar of a tiger, which seemed
to strike them all silent for a moment,
as a cannon browns the crackle of tire
works; but in another minute or two,
they were ali just as bad as ever.
"But the things that plagued me
most were the jackals. You've heard
them often enough. and so YOU can
~age what it must have been for a
man fresh out from Europe (antrathe1
feverish into the bargain) to hear under
his window, every night and all night
long, n noise as if forty children were
being bitten by half a dozen mad dogs.
cat last, I couldn't stand it any
longer, and I made up my mind that
I'd teach them to hold helr1onguesb be-
fore 1 had done with them, if l had tc
keep watch for a fortnight to do it.
$50, early Il morning, I went cut
TO q small clearing in the very heart OF
the wood, where there were plenty OF
jackals' tracks about, and dug a hole
deep enough to cover me, leaving just
my head and arms out.
"Then I waited till night came on.
and when all my native servants were
asleep, l took my double barrcled rifle,
and away l went and got into the hole
to wait till the jackals turned up.
"But n would have thought the
sneaking brutes knew what l was after:
for, although they had come in crowds
when | dadnft want them, yet now,
when was watching and wishing for
them, not one would show his nose.
"Well, there l waited and waited,
till at last l got so tired and stiff that j
was just thinking of giving it up and
going home to bed, when / thought
heard a rustling in the thicket lust in
front of me.
"The next moment there was q
sharp cracking, like dried twigs snap.
ping under q heavy weight. and out
into the clearing, with every point of
him quite plain in the glorious summer
moonlight, came stalking the biggest
tiger l had ever seen in my life.
"lt's no use trying to make out that
l wasn't frightened. 1 was frightened,
and very badly frightened, too, I can
tell you.
"1ndeed, Icouldn't we'll have been
in a worse fix than l was. If 1 had
been on a tree, | should have had NO
fear, for the real Bengal tiger can't
climb like the panther or the cougar.
Even if l had been out on level ground.
ID have felt more comfortable; for
then, at least, l should have had q
chance to fight or run. But, jammed
as | was into this precious hole, with
my head just level with the ground,
seemed put there on purpose for the
beast to eat whenever he liked.
"Ihe tiger saw me as plain as I saw
h''a, and came creeping on till L could
feel his hot breath on my face, and
coun* every n of the great white fanes
5hat glltteredso ominously in the moon
light. Why didn't l shoot him? Won
say: Why, just because at the very
hrst movement l made he'd have bit.
tee my head of like a strawberry. NV
only chance was to keep stock still, and
meanwhile, Mr.. Tiger seemed quite
as much taken back as 1 was. The
Sight OF a mans head growing out Of
the ground like a mushroom was. no