The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-01-25
LOST THEIR NERVE.

You often hear it said of a man that
he doesn't seem to know what fear is.
lie may not, so far as standing up before
other men, or facing ordinary dangers,
but there are two dangers which no liv-
ing man can face and hold his nerve very
long. ! assert this because it has been
my fortune to meet some of the most
courageous of men of this generation,
and have had opportunities 10 see their
nerve under fire.
There is probably no place in the
world where the man eating shark grows
TO larger proportions and hercer dispJsi-
tion than in the Gulf OF Bengal. Aud in
the bays and harbors along the coast the
crocodile attains his full size and his
temper fully ripens While was in the
employ of the English mail service in
India one of the ideas worked out was
speedier tran -portation. New routes
were selected to save distance, and
wherever it was possible the rivers we've
made use of. On one occasion | was
descending the Little Rangoon River
with three natives and the mail bags,
whel We were hailed from shore by an
English hunter who had been camping
out amCng the fierce wild animals and
poisonous serpents for seventy days. lie
was entirely alone, and he had killed
five leapards, three tigers, six or eight
large serpents, and much other game
He had several fresh scars to prove Il
hand-to-hand. conf ct with a wounded
tiger, and tn. bare fact of his being
alone in that country, exposed TO almost
every danger one could dream of, was
YNropf thuf la L. 4
raft at the bank and was about to cross
the stream. After Il visit of quarter OF
an hour we took him in tow and dropped
him down about a mile. We had ,ust
headed for the other bank when | saw a
large crocodile rise to the surface Just
beh nd the hunters raft. The man had
not entered the boat with us, but was
sitting on his traps on the raft. | called
to hun to shoot the repti e, and he arose
and made as pretty a shot as ever one
saw, striking the saurian in the eve and
killing him at once. We were applaud
ing the shot when dozen of the mons
tiers broke water all about the raft. We
had tow-rope about forty feet long,
and were its fall length ahead of the raft.
None of the reptiles paid the least atten-
tion to the boat, but all seemed deter
mined TO make closeracquaintanc with
the raft
The hunter had a repeating rifle, and
he stood on his feet and banged away
right and left as coolly as you please.
ordered the men to ce sc rowing, and got
out my Gwu rifle, but before had fired
shot monster crocodile cl .mbed upon
| the side of the light blmboo raft and
] - 4 4 4
it was not over thirty seconds before boat
/ and raft had bumped. At that same in,
stant the hunte rose beside the boat, aud
one of the natives pulled him in. While
/ he lay ON the bottom of the boat we
rowed about and picked up such of his
traps as were ahOat 1t was very little
we saved. as his firearms had gone to the
bottom, and his skins aud pelts had been
swiftly devoured by the crocod les
/ When | came to oder the man some
spirits his looks had changed, so that
could scarcely believe lie was the same
man. No one standing on the gallow,
trap could have been more broken up
He had scarcely swallowed the whisky
when he began to cry, and he insisted
that we cover him up IN the bottom oi
the boat. 1t was whole fortnight be
fore the man recovered his composure
while his nerve was gone forever. liz
who had stood with drawn knife await
ing the rush of a tiger, and who carried
marks to prove his bravery and his vic
tory, had be n totally broken up by al
experience of less than two minutes il
the water with dozen crocodiles. 1t wa
the feeling that he was helpless, whicl
took his courage away. In the case o
the tiger he felt that he had some littl,
show. When he was flung into tn,
water he realized that he had none.
have seen several men hung who "dieC
game, ~ and who got the credit Of be II!
brave fellows. II is all nonsense to tall
about bravery in the face of the hangmau
"Dying game is either the courag,
which comes from stimuants furnished
by the Jaler or it is false enthusiasm du
to the lalors of the cleIgymen for man!
days past.
On one of my trips up III same river
and bundled miles from the coast
tamped one night with a party Of Brtis
officers who were out on a hunt. Tn
leader o the patty, and the best shot an
brave man in it, was Ma or Curtiss
man about 40 years old. lie had kille
more Nild animals than any white ma
in the province Armed only with Tt