Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-01-24
., ,&'''1,,,(l)::sa!'EE::. y: ~. J,
y Gan FEcE Way LONG.

A Hunter who Would Fight Tigers Nor
tally Afraid of CrocodiIes-ParaIyzed
by Deadly strpeIt--An omcer's
Night 81 f6tr6r. '-'' u.s. '.'''' q IL
You often h6dr II ibid Of d min that be
doesn't seem to know what fear H. He may,
not, so far as standing up before other pen
or facing ordinary dangers, but there are
two dangers which no living man can face
and bSIdf ihsnetve very long. ASSERT this
RESPONSIBILITIES been my fortune to meet some
of the most courageous men Of this genera
tionj ami have had opportunities to see
their HeTyeu9der hfe.i r-y,.y.ii--aLJ -
While was III the employ OF The English
mail servina in, India ono OF the Ideas worked
out was speeder transportation. New routes
were selected TO save distance, and whenever
it was possible the rivers were made use of.
On one occasibd was desccnHing the Little
RangoQn riYGr with, three, natives and the
mail Ht5tJ 4h4n NJ It4re 'hal$d ftq4 shore
by an English hunter who had been camping
ont among tho iietee wild animals and
poisonous serpents for seventy days. He
was entirely alone, and he had killed five
leopards three tigers, six or eight large SER
penis and much other game lie had several
fresh sc9rs. 70 prove hand TO hand conflict
with q NOshded tiger and the bare fact of
his being alone in that country, exposed to
almost every danger one could dream Of, was
proof that he was a bravo man.
He had raft at tho bank and was about
to cross the stream. After n visit Of a quarter
Of an hour wo took him in tow and dropped
down about mile We had just headed
Tor tho other bank when / saw a large Croco-
die rise to the surface just behind the hun
ter's raft. The man had not entered the boat
with US, but was sitting on his traps on the
raft. ! called to him to shoot the reptile, and
he rose and made us pretty u shot rs one ever
saw, striking the sauran in the eye and kill
ing him at once We were applaudng the
shot when IA dozen of the monsters broke
water all about the raft.
The hunter had a repeating rife, and
he stood on his feet and banged away
right and left as CoOlly as you
please. l ordered the men to cease
rowing and got out my own rifle, but before
l had fired a single shot monster crocodile
climbed upon the side Of the light bamboo
raft and upset it. We backed water very
rapidly, and it was not over thirty seconds
before boat and raft had bumped. At the
same instant the hunter rose beside the boat,
and one of the natives pulled him in. While
he lay on the bottom of the boat rowed
about and picked up such of his traps as
were afloat 1t was very little we saved as
his firearms had gone to the bottom and his
skins and pelts had been swiftly deyoured by
the crocodilcs.
When l came to offer the man solno spirits
bis looks had changed 50 that could scarcely
believe he was the same man. No one stand
ing ON the gallows trap could have been moro
broken up. He had scarcely swallowed the
whisky when he began to cry, and he insisted
that we cover him up in the bottom of the
boat. 1t was a whole fortnight before the
man recovered his composure, while his nerve
was gone forever. lie who had stood with
knife drawn awaiting the rush of tiger,
and who carried marks to provo his bravery
and his victory, had been totally broken up
by an experience of less than two minutes in
the water with dozen crocodiles On one
of my trips up this same river and 100 miles
from the coast, L camped one night with a
party Of British officers who were out on a
hunt Tho leader of the party, and the best
shot and bravest man in it, was Maj, Curtiss,
q man about 40 years old. He had killed
more wild animals than any white man in
the province Armed only with a revolver,
he had entered bungalow in which muir
derer was concealed, and taken him away
from a crowd of his friends and delivered
him over to justice. On bet of SIS he had
swan tho river amid the allgaturs, and he
would stand for the rush Of a tiger or the
spring of s'panther with n laugh on his lips.
They said of the major that he did not know
what fear was. He, perhaps, thought SO
himself
The camp WINS on the bank Of tho river,
and only temporary one, and no tents or
covers wero erected. We sat around the
fires until a late hour, smoking and EARNING,
and when we rolled ourselves for sleep the
major and were only four feet apart, with
nothing between us. The camp grew silent at
md pvpTVbaIy az
was just doing of when thought de-
tected the crawl Of snake near me- but
after listening closely for a minute con-
Guided that it was lizard or an insect.
Daylight was just coming when opened
\ my eyes. l was on my left side, turned
toward the major, and I noticed that he was
on his back Close beside me was n revolver,
which l had slipped out of its holster the
night before that 1 might have it handy in
case of need. Not another soul in the camp
was yet aroused, SO far as I knew, and l lay
listening to the noises in the surrounding
forest while daylight continued to grow
stronger. was about to arise, when 1 sud-
denly saw the head of a serpent lift itself
above the majors breast and wave to and
fro. l shut my eyes for few seconds, and
then opened them to see the same sight
again. ] even tried it again and again, fear
full that l was doing, and not wishing to
DelleNe WndJ pldlIly sdW.
1t certainly was the head Of venomous
serpent, a species closely resembling the
American black snake, and as deadly as any
serpent in India. 1t waved its head and
darted its tongue for q moment, and then
settled back into its coil. AS soon as the
head went down felt for my revolver and
drew back the hammer. The click clicki
alarmed the snake, as knew it would, but
by the time he had elevated its head again I
had my arm outstretched, and the muzzle Of
the revolver within two feet of him. 1t was
snap shot and had to be made on the in
slant, and it was by pure good luck that
sent q bullet through his ugly head He was
writing and Hopping about as l sprang up,
and was dead as l bent over the major.
The snake had crept out of the bushes and
upon the majors breast early in the night.
1t was not more than midnight when the lat
ter awoke and found the serpent coiled up,
and he knew that any movement on his part
would result in certain death. For three
hours and half he had rested on the broad
of his back, never moving a muscle, with his
eyes wide open, and that serpent's head part
Of the time waving to and fro within six
inches of his face. When l bent over him he
was helpless. When we got him Off the
ground he sank down again and began to
weep, and it was fully two hours before he
would talk to us The result of his expert
ence was that he became a perfect physical
coward, started at the slightest noise, and
was ready to run from even a house dog
Indian Mail.
The pound party, az means OF church
charity has been introduced iu+O Fr,-Iapd