The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1889-08-17

1t was in the spring OF 1875 that
obtained leave OF absence from my
regiment, then quartered in Bombay
intending to pay visit to an old friend
named George Baker then in charge
of some irrigation works at Nursing.
poor, on the Nerbudda river. This
district had achieved quite u reputa-
tion as being center for big game,
and thinking / might have some sport,
] took along two heavy rifles.
On my arrival at my friends bunga-
low he informed me that the village
had been lately much pestered by the
presence of a tiger, and that the ma
tives had been compelled to corral
their oxen at night to prevent them
being carried off. From the size and
ferocity of the animal, it was popularly
supposed to be man-eater, especially
rs he had made his first appearance
with the new moon, fact which in the
eyes of the superstitious natives set
tied it.
Baker proposed that we organize a
tiger hunt. and thus while we honored
the occasion of my arrival at Nursing
poor in a fitting manner, we could also
rid the village of this man-eater.
There was some little delay in get
ting the expedition organized. instruct
ing the beaters in their duties and in
getting up from the neighboring viii
lage of Sohagpoor a large elephant,
from the back of which Baker and /
proposed to see the fun and do the
shooting.
1t was eleven o'clock in the morning,
when, from the howdah of the elephant,
i behold spread out before me the long
line OF beaters, and watched them, us
in half circle they silently entered
the Jungle. We approached with the
elephant. which was trained and very
intelligent animal, 10 within short
distance of the jungle, and waited
patiently in the shade of a heavy tree
for the beaters to drive the game in
our direction. ...
1t was while we were thus waiting
that my attention was attracted by Il
sight which. simple in itself, presented
about as pretty u picture as any one
might care to look upon. An Indian
woman, in beauty of form rivaling the
statuesque grace of Greek goddess, u
poem chiseled in dusky brown, the
polish of her skin showing like colored
marble in the strong sunlight, was
crossing the intervening space between
the village and forest. BY her side tod
died little infant of about two years
of age. laughing as he stretched forth
his tiny hands toward the green foli-
age, beneath the cool shade OF which
his mother intended to place him for
his monday sleep while she sat close
by and watched her darling.
My attention was momentarily dis
tracted from this pretty sight by some
thing Baker was saying, and then i'm
mcdiately after there rang out upon
the startled air a succession of the
most piercing shrieks. Looking up,
] saw the Hindoo woman wringing her
hands in despair, and gazing in the
direction of the Jungle. In another
moment she came running up to us.
exclaiming in Hindostanee:
30, sahib. sahib! the man-eater has
stolen my child. Look where he goesn
Following the direction of her finger,
1 could mark the waving of the thick
underbrush, through which the great
beast, having seized his prey, was
bounding with giant strides in the
direction of the mountains of Bhopal.
! raised my rifle as / saw his striped
body undulating through the tall
growth, but the distance was too great
and his movements too rapid for the
bullet to have any other effect than of
nccelerating his progress.
20, sahib. great sahib," moaned the
unhappy mother, "save my child"
Whilst we felt morally certain that
pursuit was useless. and that already,
crushed in the powerful jaws of the
man-eater, the little boy must have
ceased to live. still the agonized APP
peals OF the mother were more than
Baker and could stand.
Telling the mahout to urge the ele-
phant forward in the direction that the |
tiger had taken, stopped down and
lifted the woman into the howdah |
of us. She was not more than
fifteen years old (women are frequently
at twelve in India), and her
agony at the loss of her flrst-born was
to witness. She ceased to
weep. and sat with look of awful ex-
pectancy on her face, as the huge ele-
phant, urged on to his topmost speed,
ore along on the trail OF the man
eater.
The mahout, a trained and skilled
lunter, experienced no difficulty in
ollowing the trail. Soon it left the
ieeply wooded country, and ascended
he slope of the foothills, which from
he sandy character Of the soil were
lenuded OF all vegetation, save for a
ew sparse shrubs clinging in the shade
If the rocks scattered here and there
IN the surface OF the slope,
After an hours hard running on this
,round, into the treasherous soil OF