The Iola register., 1886-11-19

| SurfOuuOeO Oy groves ana DIS OI Jun&Ae
it was hard to say from which direction
the tigers made their nightly approach
For this reason my comrade, who wa
Lieutenant Harrington of the Sixty
eighth native infantry. thought it bes
that we should post ourselves at oppo
site ends of the village. There wa
enough of the afternoon left in whicl
to erect platforms in two convenien
trees, and as the sun went down ant
night fell upon us every native retiret
indoors, and we began our watch. w,
had been told that the man-eaters sen
out no warning of their approach By
roaring. as is often the case, but tha
they came with great stealth, and no on,
was aware of their presence until toe
ate to escape.
'There were q few cowardly cur dog,
in the village. but none of these hal
been molested by the tigers. One o
them took q great liking to me, ant
when mounted to the platform to be
gin my watch he lay down at the foo'
of the tree. l scolded at him, and flung
three or four broken branches at hii
head, but he refused to 90 away. L
was q balmy evening. with plenty ol
stars but no moon. One could have
seen q man moving many rods away,
if he kept in the open, but it was very
dark under the trees. and the grass in
the openings was two feet high. l was
close to the hut from which the man
had been dragged, but had not kept my
watch long before l realized that 1t was
great chance if l caught the slightest
glimpse of the expected visitors. There
were SO many dark spots below me and
the foliage SO obstructed my vision that
l had good mind to descend and seek
for some other position. However, ]
held on. and by and by the village grew
quiet and my vigil became a lonely one
indeed. The villagers were in a happy
frame of mind, believing the man-eaters
as good as dead or driven to some other
district, now that we had arrived.
Some of them even neglected to drop
the blankets hanging at their doors.
''It had come to be ten o clock, and I
was wondering if 1 dared light che
root when heard the dog before me
whine and move about. Next moment
l caught sight of two dark objects steal
ing across the open space toward the
foot of my tree, and realized that the
tigers had come. The dog ran out to
meet them, singular as it may appear,
and then occurred a familiar scene.
You have seen mastiff stand still in
all his dignity while a puppy scamper-
ed around him in play. WE'LL the
tigers stood there stiff as two statues.
and the cur ran around in circle and
tried his best to get up frolic. They
at first, ,growled in menacing way,
but as he continued his play they grew
better natured, and, in few minutes,
all three were in for frolic. could
not see as distinctly as l could have
wished for. but made out the move
ments very well. The tiger jumped
over the dog dozen different times,
and on three or four occasions dropped
their tails and ran away to let him pur-
sue them, but always coming back to
the same place. l softly cooked my
gun for shot, but they were so con-
on the move that l dared
not risk it. Our object was to
bag one or both. instead of driving
them away from the neighborhood by a
general alarm. The play continued for
a quarter of an hour, and ceased then
because a child in hut near by cried
out in its sleep. The tigers changed
their demeanor in an instant, and low
growl warned the dog that the frolic
was at an end. He did not want it so,
but scarcely had he renewed his efforts
when one of the beasts struck blow
with its paw and laid him dead on the
grass. Then both stood stock still,
listening for the cry to be repeated.
They were side bv side. broadsidc to
me, and not a hundred feet away, but
in the darkness it was chance shot. l
pulled the trigger. and the report was
followed by a terrible growing and
snarling and the sounds of claws at
work in the grass. The natives were
out in moment, shouting. screaming
and blowing horns, and as soon as their
torches were alight l descended from
my perch. One of the tigers was roll
ing over and over on the ground, and
sounds of rage, while the other
had disappeared. 1 gave the wounded
beast shot through the head, and
when we came to examine the body we
found it to be that of the tigress. My
first bullet had broken her right shoul-
der. and it was a wonder she did not
60 off on three legs.
sThe Lieutenant came running up to
me on my luck, and in ten
minutes every man, woman and child in
the village was in the circle around the
dead beast Everybody supposed the mate
had made off for the jungles. as would
be the case nineteen times out of twenty,
but we were sadly mistaken. While we
stood in a circle, with eight or ten
torches lighting the scene, the male
tiger seized woman who stood not
over ten feet from me. and, even before
a cry was raised, had disappeared in the
darkness. The Lieutenant and myself
fired every shot we had in the direction
taken. hoping to frighten or wound the
beast. and wiling to take the chances
of hitting the woman, but We threw our
bullets away. The victim had child
about two years old in her arms, and
she carried this forty or fifty feet before
releasing it. As she did not utter a single
CRY. we concluded that the tiger had
struck her fatal blow as he sprung up
on her. The husband and three or four
were there, and they set up
such wall ng that it was a relief when
they were conducted to their hat at the
other end of the village. That tiger was
my thirteenth. and Harrington had
killed fully as many. but as we COM
pared notes we agreed that we had
never known such an instance. A tiger
which is fired at from ambush and not
hit is overcome by fright, and will travel
for miles before halting, or make straight
for his den and lie close for the next
hours. That is the rule, but
here was startling exception. The