The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-10-11


Inc how to strike path which led near
them. But for his excitement he would
not have betrayed the location. In about
three hours he returned to tell me that
he had beer mistaken in the location,
whic'a was TO the south insIead OF the
west, and il he had said ruins he meant
rocks. | w.s not deceived with his sec.
ond statement. He wanted to keep me
away from the ruins. aud OF course was
determined to visit them.
IL vent, must go alone. Neither
the Professor nor his young men had
ever fired at anything more ferocious
than an jcckal, and they had no idea of
riskirg themselves with a tiger. had
killed two of these during my jaunts
about the country, and was quite certain
of my nerve in case of another meeting
The native had described this tiger as
an old man.eater, who had carried off
many villagers. and, as must visit the
ruins by day, he would certainly be at
home. Bright and early next morning
l was ready to start. My excuse to the
Professor was that intended TO look for
a certain bird which he had been ve-y
anxious TO secure, and he never noticed
that took my heavy rife instead of a shot
gun. also had "A revolver and knife, and
1t was not more than an hour after sunrise
when set out. followed the creek down
TO where it branChcd, aud there | struck
the path which the native had described.
As near rs could determine il had been
made by wild animals coming and going
between the jungle and the creek, and
at the first soft spot found the i'm.
prints of the tigers Taws. They were
fresh, too, and there was no doubt of his
being at home. AS | proceeded, the
path wound about in the most eccentric
manner, while the jungle grew thicker.
One could not see five feet in any direc.
tion. and the air was shut Off.
The first hint that | had reached the
ruins came in the shape of block of
Dire scd stone lying right across my path.
As ] stepped uron it great cobra
wrigglcd slowly away from my feet, and
! saw half dozen columns and lengths
of wall arising among the bushes.
Fifteen years before here had been a
clearing Of perhaps hundred acres, with
village of several thousand people. and
u temple covering half an acre Of groUId.
A man eating tiger now held sole pos
session, while the clearing had grown up
to jungle, and fire or explosion had laid
the great temple in ruins. Ten feet
ahead of me was second block. |
passed TO that, and then the path turned
To thr right and ran over fallen wall
AS ] reached this latter place and looked
around, the tiger was stretched out on
the earth before me in little open
space. His legs were drawn up and he
was gasping, and though | was greatly
startled FOR u moment, | soon realized
that he was dying. Indeed, he did not
live above two minutes after | set eyes
on him. AS | afterward learned, the
natives had poisoned the body Of man
he had killed and only haf devourcd,
and in finishing his repast he had met
his fate. He had doubtless Just returned
from satisfying his thirst at the creek.
1t was well for me that did not come a
few minutes earlier. | examined the
body closely, and found the tiger to be
old and NANCY, with many of his teeth
decayed. These were sure evidences that
he was a SOLITARY" aud had no mate.
! need, therefore, have no fear that any
other animal more savage than hyena
was concealed in the near vicinity.
The temple seemed to have been blown
and rent and knocked down in every di-
rcction, and column and block and
carved work lay hcaped together in
strange confus on. was bewlldcred to
see the vegetation growing up through
the ruins so profuscly, and it stood me
in hand to move carefully in such n
snake-infcsted spot. | picked my way
carefully to the center of the ruins, and
here | got pretty fair idea of what the
building had been. Here were the re-
mains of II shrine or altar, which had
once been the Clcane,t of marble II was
now stained and osS-grOwn and COW
cred with crccpcrs. To look for buried
treasure in sucn u tumble was like look
ing lor needle in haystack; bat had
come for that purpose, and felt that
must make Il beginning. Fling ng sew
cral stones into the bushes TO frighten
any lurking serpcnts away, | put down
my gun and began at the crccpers Ina
little while | uncovered what | said was
"a altar or shrine. 1t may not have
been. From the stone floor there was a
solid wall, about six feet high, enclosing
q space about six feet square. The stone
which rested on these four walls was Il
foot thick, and carved around the edges.
| could not tell whether the walls en-.
closed space or the whole cube was
solid as support for pillar, but after a
close inspection l discovered spot
where the end of lever might bc in
serted. l.had brought ha,chct to help
me through the jungle. With this |
cut and trimmed II small tree, and after
much effort looscned the capstone until
| could see that the walls enclosed n
space. On the surface of this clpstone
l clcaly made out where the foot of a
pil!ar, which had probably helped to
support the roof, had rested. 1t lay
near by, but was broken by It's fall.
1t was not more than eight o'clock in
the morning when | reached the ruins,
but it was two O'Clock in the afternoon
before | had the heavy stone slowed
around far enough to upset its equi-
librium and force it to fall off. | was
in II tremble Of excitement from the
first, and as | slowed the stone further
and further around felt more and more
sanguine of large cavity beneath. |
would not look in, however, until the
stone was clear of. When did bend
over the wall and look down it was to
find a wooden chest OccunvinD uparly