The Southern herald., 1888-09-08

up after a few trials, with the exception
of small minority who have the real
sportsman's blood in them. / refer to
hunting on foot, and pursuing the tiger
into his haunts.
Generally two of us club together,
and hire anywhere from twenty to
hundred natives, with an old shekarry
or chief huntsman at the head. The
shekarry leads the party, and directs
Its movements and is closely followed
by the hunters, who hold their guns
ready-cocked for shooting. Close be-
hind the hunters are the gun-bearers
carrying ammunition and extra guns,
and then come the band carrying !
gongs, drums, dinner-bells, horns, and |
any thing else that will make noise,
Then there are singers who throw
stones into the jungle, spearmen to
keep the line in order, and two or three
active fellows who climb trees In order
to spy out the game.
"The procession moves very slowly,
as it is necessary to be cautious in or
der to prevent the escape of the tiger,
and, if possible. save the members OF
the party from injury. The danger Of
such a hunt is, that the tiger may sud-
denly charge upon you, and he is par
ticularly dangerous when he Is wounded
and you are following him up.
"Once, two Of us were following up
a wounded tiger, and the blood was SO
abundant that we all thought the anil
NAL must have bled to death. While
we were standing in little clearing
debating what to do, the tiger sprang
out of the Jungle and charged on my
friend, whom he carried to the ground
instantly. The poor fellow was killed
by the blow, and it was small consola
ton for me that / put bullet through
the tigers skull The creature meas
ured eleven feet one inch from nose tc
tip of tail, and have his skin now In
my library.
"Another time when / was out in
pursuit of small game, l strolled into
the jungle telling my men to follow a
short distance behind me, and make nc
noise as | hoped to shoot some birds by
taking them unawares But | had nc
luck, and after walking fully half an
hour had not succeeded in sighting any
thing. Coming to a rocky mound sat
down. and while reclining there saw an
opening in the jumbled mass of stones
that formed one of the sides.
Naturally enough | wanted to ex-
anime the opening and proceeded to do
so, but the space was so narrow and low
that | could not penetrate more than a
few feet, The entrance was, perhaps,
six feet high, but the space narrowed
rapidly and soon became impossible for
me, except on hand and knees. had
} no candles or other material for light
ing up the place, and, therefore, could
make no attempt at exploring II any
, further,
Wondering how soon my men would
come up, sat down just inside the en-
trance Of the cave and began to plar
) matters for my movements as soon as
, they should arrive, The day was warm
: kwas greatly fatigued, and the result
4 OF my sitting down there and meditat
. ing was that | fell asleep.
, 81 had observed traces of the feet o
s some animal on the hard earth near th'
, place where l sat down, but did no
9 consider them of any consequence, ant
s it did not occur to me that the opening
led to the home of a tigerl Tiger
q were rare in that region, and hat
8 not heard Of any there for lons
p while.
9 "How long / slept don't know, hu
$ probably only for a few minutes, just
dozen winks and mods to refresh myself
Il as had often taken before. When
d walked happened to turn my eyes to
d wards the Jungle, and the sight tina
o met them was one well-calculated t
Is shake mans nerves. Not twenty fee
d away was tiger lashing its tail, grow
Is ing furiously and preparing to sprin
o upon me- The whole situation was az
r, parent at once; l had fallen asleep i
l. the vestibule of the tigers residence
10 had only my gun for protection
l. and it was charged for birds, not fc
'r tigers.
,r Under circumstances like these on
% must think and act quickly, and tn
is was the case with me. My gun was
breech-loader of pattern very quick
ID manipulated the cartridges in the ba
ID rels were charged with shot, but l ha
O. some ball cartridges in my pocke
,r Quick as fash l changed one of IL
Id cartridges, and l hadn't the fractiC
re of an instant to spare as the tig'
TO sprang just as brought the gun to n
in shoulder.
BY II couldn't take accurate aim, and ]
ID was so close that there was no need
n it, as he wasn't six feet off when fire
1e The ball entered the animals eye al
to pierced his skull; he fell at my fee
III but not harmlessly. Do you see tn
re SCARF" he concluded, as he barred h
arm and displayed the mark of
ly laceration extending from wrist to
e. bow. 'Well, the brute caught my ar
,ir as he fell, and tore it frightfully, but
rt spite OF the wound I got another b'
'c- cartridge into the gun, and finish
", him. should say finished her as t
cd tiger was female, and one of t
Vn largest Ihad ever seen.
Notwithstanding the injury to I
lie arm, l fred several shots in rapid 81
Is. cession as signal to my men, W
m shortly arrived. They had the n
,ar tarials for making a torch, and SO th