Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1889-11-08

down the almost 1nd1st1ng ulshabI6 bar
rels, and I press the trigger. The
binding flash leaps out, the answering
roar scares even the terrified pig into
silence, and blue veil Of smoke, hid
ing everything, hangs before US. Mitt
turned toward me with Interrogation
or reproach in his eyes, and shook his
head doubtfulIy.
For two minutes we sat and listened.
Then a long, hard-drawn breath, ex-
PEELED in a painful, heavy sigh, came
out of the bushes on our right. I never
heard q sWeeter sound in my life. It
meant that the tiger was hit so badly
that he could not get away at once,
and evidently hit somewhere about his
lungs. Every two minutes for half an
hour this sObbing sigh was audible.
Then it ceased, but no matter. If he
was hurt as badly as that we should
get him for certain. So lighted my
| pipe and tried to wait patiently for
daylight. 1t was so long in coming
| that began to think the sun had over
! slept itself. but at last at o'clock we
/ climbed down and stretched our
! cramped limbs; the cOOlie arrived at
/ almost the same minute with the pony,
! the two natives returned with their
! pole, and we started out to reconnOiter.
| First, as to the pig. Instead of being
! half eaten, as we supposed, he was all
| right except for five long scratches
/ down one side, where the tiger had ev-
/ identity put out his paw and felt Of him
| with a natural curiosity as to what he
was doing there. Just behind him
were two deep footprints. That was
! all. No blood, no tracks, and we
! looked cautiously round without seeing
a sign. Fifty yards away there was a
stretch of grass three feet high where
he was very likely to be hidden.
Where could the tigoE be, anyway
Mitt and I walked over to the edge of
the grass and looked carefully all
along it for tracks. That moment came
very near being the last for one of us.
While we were peering about the tiger
suddenly sat up in the grass not ten
feet from us, and, with a tremendous
roar, sprang clean out into the open.
He was so near that it was out of the
question to shoot. If I had flung my
rife forward it would have fallen on
him. 1 coulf. see his white teeth dis
tinctIy and the red gap of his throat.
1 remember even at that moment won
dering how he could possibly open his
mouth so wide. Mitt and I were, per-
haps, ten yards apart, and the tiger
leaped out midway between us. In
stinctlvely the Annamite made a wild
rush away on his side and I on mine
The tiger had evidently walked Just
far enough ir,+o the grass to be hidden
and had then lain down. His presence
there took us so completely by sur
prise that We were helpless. 1 may as
well confess that my state of mind at
that moment was one of dreadful funk.
If the tiger had been slightly less
wounded than he was, it is perfectly
certain that in another instant he
would have killed one or the other OF
US, We had not the remOtest chance
of escaping him by running away.
| IDENTIFY all he could manage, for
he turned Immediately and sneaked
back into the cover. AIitt fired into
the moving grass after him, In spite OF
my shouted protests, tearing a piece OF
skin off his flank, as we afterWard dis
covered. We took five minutes to re
cover from our scare, and then, as the
beast was practically helpless, we
followed him through the grass. After
a hundred yards, his grOwls brought
US up short again. L sent Mltt up a
tree, and he reported the sight of his
head. So 1 beckOned him down, climbed
up myself, pulled up the rife after me,
, and there I could distinctly see the
tiger about seventy yards away, sitting
on his launches, with his back toward
me. 1 aimed at his spine behind his
shoulders, and when the bullet struck
( he simply got up and turned hall
: round, giving me a splendid chance.
My second bullet struck him In exact
: ly the right place, and he made a grab
with his mouth when it entered, then
, spun round three or four times, like q
: terrier chasing his tail, and fell In 8
{ heap. At this moment the three other
7 men, who had not gone home after all
arrived on their ponies, so we walked
> carefully up to him in line. There ht
2 lay, or rather she, for it was a fine
tigress, a little under eight feet long
= ! !. e