The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-06-24

me, ran three little spotted deer and a
wild hog, and began racing about as if
that spot was their regular play
ground, and yet with a sort of fasci-
mated stare and alarm that made me
suspect mischief. determined, how
ever, coute qui coute, to see the thing
out, so l drew the brandy flask from
hiy No. lib pocket, and took sup to
steady my hand. Before ! had put it
back, sure enough, out between two
champa trees came d tremendo,li
beast OF boa constructor, as large
ii he was an inch-his scales wet and
shining with the dew. and he wrlthing
and nndulating like an enormous cat
erpillar.
IF you'll believe me, sir, surprised
as | was, | had still presence of mind
enough to aim firm and steady at his
nearest eye, thinking what n triumph
it would be to take him home to poor
Twentyman. When what should see
about twenty feet beyond this beast
but some strange object waving i'm the
grass | covered it with my rifle, and
was just going to press the trigger with
my forefnger, when | heard rush,
and an enormous tiger, clearing the boa
constructor, leaped space OF nearly
40 feet Jas l afterwards measured),
before could readjust my piece.
at was the white tiger-the- man.
eater-I felt sure of it at the first
glance; q splendid fellow, full 13 feet
long. OF q pale tawny cream color
striped with dark brown his chest al
most white.
eff you'll believe me, sir, as he held
me and shook me in his mouth, | felt
no pain and no terror, but q sort Of
almost pleasant benumbed drowsiness
and q strange curiosity as to how the
brute would eat me. l could hear the
deer, monkeys and snake scuttle off as
he shook me, as q cat does a mouse
or terrier q rat Then tried to
get pistol from pocket No. 13, and
tainted.
"Before I came to, full half an hour
must have elapsed. There l lay in a
nest OF dry Moonje grass. l felt that
the monster was still over me. / felt
his pestilential breathing on my face
even in my swoon. Yes, there he was,
his enormous length reclining beside
me, his striped tail sweeping across my
feet at every vibration-his head turn
ed from me. If you'll believe me, sir,
he had actually munched and chewed
the whole of my left leg from the toe
to the knee; he had eaten about three
feet of it, sir pardon the awkward.
ness of the expression), during my
swoon."
"Chewed; Major Monsoon" cried
in an angry, expostulatory voice.
"Why, there are your two legs as sound
as mine!"
"Pooh! pooh! my dear sir" said he,
without q smile and quite unrufiled
holding out his left leg to NE to pinch,
"the leg he munched was cork then, as
it is now, and as it has been ever since.
A cannon ball took of its heshy prede-
cessor at the siege of Mooltan. One
happy result of it being cork, as you
may imagine, was that it took the
beast some time to get through, and
that the beast didn't hurt me much.
81 opened my eyes quietly when :
found what he was at, for he kept
growing and snarling over the rather
indigestible meal, and began to look
round me to see where my rifle was.
If you'll believe me, sir, there it lay,
full cooked, not three inches from my
right hand.
"My first thought was to steal my
hand along and get hold of my rifle,
but the instant moved even a limb,
the beast OF a 'man-eater' began to
growl, and evinced a dangerous dis
position to leave my cork leg and set
tie on the more valuable one of flesh,
I therefore, for the moment, abandn
ed the attempt, and resigned mys>
to death; for it seemed certain that
when the beast had finished the cork
leg and began to taste my blood, he
would turn and devour nge.
ri was sufficiently cool, even in this
horrible emergency, to cast my eyes
around to see if was wounded. |
found no wound but discovered that
the tiger had in seizing me torn off
and probably devoured the tenth and
eleventh pockets of my shooting jack
ct. | listened for the beaters, but
could hear no voice Or sound. They
had either gone so far Off that they
were out of hearing, or what was more
likely, they had been alarmed by the
tiger and had fled. For they're poor
creatures, the niggers, in any real dan
ger.
~ now, therefore, gave myself up as
lost; the tiger was still gnawing my
cork knee and had one paw lying as
heavy as lead on my other leg, when
suddenly, if you'll believe me the beast
yawned twice, nodded his head and
fell fast asleep. saw it all in mo-
ment He had swallowed, in my No.
10 pocket, large bottle of morphine,
the bimeconate OF morphine, an
American preparation OF great
strength-that I always carried with
me when ! went tiger hunting, in case
of an attack OF neuralgia, to which l
was subject after l had two-thirds OF
my teeth carried away by match
lock bullet at Bundelcore. Now was
my opportunity. There lay the great
striped beast fast asleep. l stole my
hand gently toward my rifle. l
grasped it. cooked it. l looked at
the clean copper cap, held the muzzle
close to the brute's ear and fired.
With yell-a groan-the beast fell.
l leaped up at the same moment to
avoid his fatal claws, and gave him
the second barrel behind the right
paw, close to the heart. He groaned,
stretched out his legs, tore the earth
in long scratches you might lay your
hands in, and fell dead. took out
my repeater. It was exactly three
minutes past 2 P. NJ. | had started
from the bungalow at Kollywallah at
TAM. Then a giddiness came over
me, and tainted again.
II was awoke by something soft
touching my face. l looked up. Kind
heaven! It was Ramchunder, with
the beast of akhansamah dead drunk
in the howdah, and with one of my
silver topped champagne bottles in his
hand. Instantly called out, 'Pukrao!'
which is Hindostanee for take hold,
and, if you'll believe me, sir, the sa-
gacious animal, whom l had trained
to this, lifted me up with his probes
els into the howdah; for how could ]
move, you know. with my cork leg all
eaten aWaY2