Wichita eagle., 1888-03-25

to shoot this tiger.
Early we certainly started, and by 6
O'Clock were on the ground. We took up
positions. Col. G in the center Of the line
and P on the left, with myself on the
right The word was given TO advance
slowly, and the men shouted and yelled
enough to rouse the dead.
Slowly pressing through the high grass
and bamboo jungle, l noticed some grass
waving to and fro not very far ahead of
me; but working toward the center CT the
line passed the word to G, and before
long l heard double report and shouts
of ''Tiger'' from the men. A minute
hardly passed before my man pointed to
a long yellow body moving toward me
and said, "Tiger." waited and soon
| got shot and hit him, breaking his fore
leg, but unluckily not hitting him NOR
tally. He turned and made straight
down the line, trying to break through
and get behind US; the coolies would not
allow it to do so, and made great COM
motion One poor fellow, more daring
than the rest, threw stick at it, and in
an instant was seized and thrown to the
ground, the tiger standing over him
growing.
Col. G heard the comrotion and made
for the scene of the disaster, and on arriv-
ing saw the tiger deliberately tearing the
man to pieces, while the poor fellows
/ shrieks could be heard far away.
Not a moment was to be lost, so G
raised his rife and fired. hitting the brute
in the stomach, enraging it more than
ever now came up, but before l could
get shot the tiger gave bound and
Landed on G's elephants head. The
animal at first tried TO shake the tiger OF,
but, finding it useless, turned and bolted
through the jungle as hard as it could go,
every one on the elephant being in great
danger of being killed. P and pur-
sued to try and help G, who stuck to
his elephant like man, trying to keep
his seat and get shot as the tiger.
We soon lost sight Of them, but con-
tinued to follow as fast as we could.
After half an hour we came to an open
place in the jungle, and what a sight met
our eyes. G was stuck head first into a
large prickly pear bush, and only his feet
could be seen; the elephant driver was
looking nournfully at the remains of the
elephants trappings, while the elephant
itself was engaged in smashing the tiger
into an unacceptable mass by kneehng
On it.
To get G out was the work Of an in
slant, and in a quarter Of an hour he was
able to give US the details of the episode,
which ended in very nearly tragic way.
G told us the. elephant ran for dear
life, and at last went straight for q tree,
and came crash against it with its fore
head, sending the elephant driver and
himself flying as If shot from rocket,
but killing the tiger as dead as stone.
The natives soon crowded round and
burned off !Stripe's' wbiskers, custom
adhered to by the natives of India.
This tiger was skinned, and measured
ten feet nine inches from tip to tip. 1t
was beautifully marked, and was made
present of the s1in, as having given it
the first bullet.
The sun was now hot, so we adjourned
under a shady tree and had breakfast, in
tending to 60 out again later on, when it
got cooler.
About $50 we made another start, this
time stationing ourselves in various
glades, while the natives drove the game
toward Us. Strict injunctions were given
that nothing except tigers and leopards
were to be shot. Very soon after we were
in our positions, the uproar of coolies,
driving and firing old muskets, could De
plainly heard, and the droves Of deer and
pig that passed often tempted me to fire.
At last the faint sound of "Bagh, y
"Bagh,'' ''Tiger," 'Tiger," caught my
ear, and the redoubled yells told me that
game was afoot. l sat quietly waiting,
getting very excited as I heard sound,
and at last espied an animal skulking
through the grass. / fired, and stiffness
ensued. took my elephant mp and found
| had killed leopard, and while | was
admiring him tiger jumped across our
path, but before had time to fire disap-
peared in the direction of p, cool old
hand and man who hardly ever shot OFF
an elephant, but generally used to spread
81 rug over @ low bush and sit on the top
Of it.
IL was a dangerous custom, and we
strongly advised him not to do it, but to
| no purpose.
After missing my chance went back
to my place of refuge and listened to hear
what had become Of the tiger. Before
long heard crack of rifle from P's
direction, and directly afterward | heard
two shots in quick succession, and silence
then followed I thought p had got the
tiger ali right, when suddenly l saw q
tiger, evidently hard hit, going through
the grass about 100 yards away. threw
up my rife fired, and succeeded in turn
ing her back toward ?, but doing no
damage otherwise.
Again P's rife rang out once, and di-
rectly following it came G's rifle, easily
distinguished by its enormous size and a
1 roar Like a small cannon.
Nothing more appeared during the heat,
so closed in on the rest and asked what
sport they had. / found G had killed a
tiger, as also had p, but that had a
very narrow escape of being killed, and
would have been so if G had not appeared
on the scene in tie nick of time. had,
according to his custom, seated himself
on the ground, or rather just above the
ground, and waited for tiger; my friend
Stripes came out on him, and 7 shot
| him with the right barrel dead. Directly
afterward another crossed his glade, and
! he fired both barrels at it. The tiger con-
tinued its course, and came on TO me, and
was turned up by my shot p, in the
meantime was examining his dead tiger,
and perfectly oblivious to the other game
afoot. Hearing rustic just behind him,
he turned sharply and saw the tiger COM
ing back. He got back to his bush in a
second and was ready for the tiger when
il came out into the open. lie fired his
first barrel 81; it and wounded 1t again.
The tiger came, straight at him, and i'm
agine his horror when a second barrel
missed fire and MS cartridge belt had
dropped.
The tiger crouched and looked at him,
as if enjoying his agony Of mind, like a
cat and mouse, then slowly approached
to within twenty-five feet OF poor 2, who
was speechless with horror. In fact, he
had given up all hope when G appeared