Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-21

odch 10 the same place. 4 softly cooked
my gun for q shot, but they were so o n
stantly on the move that I 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 q quarter of an hour,
and ceased then because a child In a hut
near by cried out in its sleep. The tigers
changed their demeanor in an instant,
and u low grOwl warned the dog that the
frOlic was at an end lie did not want it
so, but scarcely had he renewed his
Efforts when one Of the beasts struck him a
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 by side, broadside to me,
and not q hundred feet away, but in the
darkness it was q chance shot. pulled
trigger, and the report of the rifle was
followed by q terrible growing and snarl-
ing and the sound Of claws at work in
the grass. The natives were out in q mo-
ment, shouting, screaming, and blowing
horns, and as Don aS their torches were
alight / descended from my perch. One
of the tigers vas rolling over and over on
the ground, and uttering sounds Of rage,
while the other had disappeared. I
gave the wounded beast a 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 shoulder, and it was a wonder she
did not go Off on three legs.
1.-The lieutenant came running up to
compliment me on my luck, and in ten
minutes every man, woman and child
q, a., ella ,-,a q. ~ atpn1a naNr,r1
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 q woman who stood not over
ten feet from me, and, before even q
cry was raised, had disappeared in the
darkness. The lieutenant and myself
fred every shot we had in the direction
taken, hoping to brighten or wound the
beast, and willing to take the chances of
hitting the woman, but we threw our
bullets away. The victim had u child
about two years old in her arms, and she
carried this forty or fifty feet before re-
leasing il. As she did not utter Il single
cry, we concluded that the tiger had
struck her a fatal blow Us he sprung upon
her. The husband and three or four
other children were there, and they set
up sAch a wairfng that it was 4 relief
when they were conducted to their hut at
the other end Of the village. That tiger
was my thirteenth, and Harrington had
killed fully as many, but rs we compared
notes we agreed that we had never
known such an instance. y 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 twenty
four hours. That Is the rule, but here
was a startling exception. The tiger had
not only not been frightened away by the
reports of our guns and the shouts of the
natives, but had remained TO select a vic
tim at his leisure, and that with torches
blazing In his face and n deafening hub
bub prevailing. We could naturally and
Justly conclude that he was u mRneater
OF the most yengeful disposition.
when morning came we took up the
spOor and trailed the tiger and his victim
to Il grove about half u mile away. He
had only half devoured the body, proving
that hunger had not forced him TO dis
play such bOldness. He had taken his
full time about eating, and had then
made for the hills. Some of the native
crackers could follow his trail on q run,
and they came upon two places where
the beast had turned in his tracks, as if
he contemplated o return to the village
and the seizure Of another victim. The
trail was followed to the mouth Of q
| dark, dry gully, with a rocky bottom and
| 81 Ill .,g-I L,,-l,, ,rl thn ,,t,-n.
would 20 no further. One Of them was
| dispatched TO our camp with word to
| come over, and in u couple Of hours there
were five OF us white men ON the ground
with q determination TO hunt the big cat
to his death. \ body VI natives were
| sent off up the hill to beat the gully, and
we took our stations in a crescent, each
man facing the hill, and none of us over
100 feet from the spot where the trail had
been abandoned. 1t turned out that the
gully did not penetrate the hill for more
than a quarter of O mile, and after u lit
tie the natives got on both sides Of il and
BEGAN to beat toward Us. While some
blew horns and beat drums, others kept
up a fire Of stones into the gully, and we
felt that the tiger must show himself.
] The only fear wa that his temper would
boil over and he would Chamber up the
/ side of the gully and attack the beaterS,
4 frightened tiger would have sought TO
Chamber out instead Of following the
gully down to the plain, and once he
| started to bolt nothing would have
stopped him.
THE heaters had been at work half an
hour when we heard Il cry announcing
that the maneater was making his way
| toward the plain, hustled along some
what by the vOllCyS of stones, but sharpen
| ing his claws and growing defiance. In
taking up our positions il SO happened
that Lieut.. Harrington was ON my right,
in line with the mouth of the gully, and
not more than twenty feet from my cl-
bow. lie hail q double bsrreled rifle OF
| heavy caliber. while had a repeater. In
| three or four minutes after the cry OF
warming the tiger appeared in the mouth
| Of the gully, head Gu To Harrington, and
looking him straight in the face.
".uoh ont Has my urS-tH Shautaa
the officer rs he brought his gun up, and
it became a point Of honor with thc.reat
| of Us TO hold our fire. lie took cool and
| careful aim. but his bullet simply
| touched the skin between the tigers ears.
| He dropped like a stone, but was up in an
instant, and, with a roar to shake any
| mans nerves, he sprang forward ut the
| lieutenant. In the tenth of a second |
turned my eyes from the beast to the OH
| Ger, and what was my horror to see 4 ser
pent twiniug itself about his leg and
| rearing its head to u level with his shout
| der. l forgot all about the oncominG
| tiger, and for the first time in my life my
| blood seemed turned To ice. Harrington
| stood with his left foot ahead and his
| right braced, and rs the tiger touched
| the ground for his last spring the rifle
spoke again and the beast rolled over with
. ball through his brah. Then, while
we all kept our places like so many
| blocks Of stone, he dropped his rifle,
| seized the snake just below the head with
| his right hand, and came walking toward
| us. The serpent writhed and twisted
/ about in its rage, and as it uncoiled itself