River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-06-07

heard. Il was but one terrifying cry.
and then all was silent. But too
well knew what it meant The sonar
on watch had fallen asleep. and the
tiger bad pounced upon him and car
ried him off to the Jungle. We fired
our rifles in the direction the brute
had taken. not with any hope OF hit
ting. but trusting that the sound of
firearms would make the beast drop
his victim. We followed him short
distance. and then. seeing how useless
II was to continue in the darkness. we
returned 10 camp Early next morn
ing we found traces of the poor sonar
close to the camp At one place we
found his belt. and in another his tur-
ban. We could not find the body. and
the tiger had evidently dragged
il into the reeesses of the jun
gle. Soon after. some of the
villagers arrived. bringing a white
calf for bait G uided by them. we
made our way TO place about mile
away. close by a stream. where they
said that they had seen the tigers
tracks. showing that he came there to
drink He was not to be expected I'M
Ill evening; so. after accommodating
the ground and selecting in a suitable
tree n place 10 build a nleschauni. we
returned to tho village. In the even
ing we returned to the stream. and the
first thing we did was to build the
nleechduBs I'm the tree. We did not in
tend to shoot the tiger from the tree.
but made il only as place in which to
pass the night. until We could ''stals'
the tiger TO the spot where the bait
should be placed. Accordingly we
tethered the white calf in
the middle Of a clear space.
some two or three hundred
yards away. and when all prepare
lions were complete we returned to the
DaeechaIni. You may DO sure not one
Of us slept a wink that night; we were
far too anxious, and when the very
faintest streak of dawn appeared we
slid down the tree, and slowly and
carefully crept to where the calf YVES
tethered. When we came near, we at
first could see nothing of the cali. and
thOughtthat the tiger had carried him
off bodily; but our eyes were becoming
better accustomed to the gloom. and
as it was rapidly growing lighter. we
soon discerned something white
lying on the ground. and every
now and then moving a lit
tie; and-vesl sure enough. there
was something else beside it! In the
East daylight comes almost as quickly
rs does the evening darkness. and it
was not long before we could
make out the tiger and the clash
ing of his tail" He was lying full
length on the calls body. and
evidently. since the calf still moved.
had not yet killed it. On the other
side of the open ground there was 4
dead tree. and thought: Master Ii
ger. if can get behind that. you are
a dead tiger, and will go to the happy
hunting-g of Tigerdom-" ar
ranged with NV friend that he should
stay where he was. TO shoot the tiger
if he turned in that direction. while
should steal over to the dead tree and
try to get shot from there. l ar
rived a, the tree all right. and. slowly
taking careful aim ut the tiger so that
/ might hit him right behind the
shoulder, 1 fired. "Me-ow-wi" what
q roar he did give as he sprang into
the airi had hit him hard, and he
faced directly toward me. with his
eyes glowing like red-hot Goals.
Then he gave one frantic bound to-
ward where my friend was standing.
but it was his last leap. for the short.
sharp crack of rifle rang out. and.
with bullet through his heart. the
great man-eater lay dead!
OH what joy there was among the
villagers, who now came running up.
Their enemy was dead, and once more
they could return TO their beautiful
village How they danced round him
and spat upon him. and called the
tiger by all the abusive epithets in the
Indian vocabulary. Then they tied
the paws together and slung the body
on a pole. and we all returned in tri-
umph together And so ended my adj
venture with the man-eater. - Waiter
Campbell, in S. Nicholas.