Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-05-14
A NIGHT WITH A TIGER.
Being the Thrilling Adventure Of
 Two Bachelors in India

!
 h entering the drawin room there were two doors; this must be borne in mind The house itself was old-fashioned, a large and many gabled one, standing quite alone and solitary in a spacious garden; all the windows had been closed and the jalousies shut and secured from the outside; the tatty-grass blinds on the piazza had been rolled up and put away till another blazing morning called for their refreshing shade.
 The locality was near that part of the delta called the Sunderbunds, through which the Ganges expands it's branches as it ap- breaches the sea-a labyrinth of crooks and rivers, of jungle and stagnant water. The night was perfectly fine, but moonless j; there was heavy dew rapidly falling, like misty rain, which in hot countries is a per- fectly natural occurrence.
 lwent into the drawing-room by what may be called the back door, as it led into the back drawing room, and smaller one of the two; the other, a far larger apartment, communl- cated with this one by great folding doors of gold and white. The back drawing room was very full of furniture, rather incon- veniently so. As I was carrying an arm full of books, and in my disengaged hand a bull's-eye lantern, l proceeded with toler- able security, though slowly, but then of course l knew the room, and could nave gone to my destination in the dark. What struck me as both curious and lrrltatlve was the fancy that the room seemed more impeded than ever with the furniture, dark, old-fas shioned rosewood furniture, that had been made to match the grand piano. The various articles looked as if they had been dragged about the room. Possibly the darkness above and around me helped the illusion; anyway they had the appearance of having been gradually spread toward the center of the room, round heavy and solid table. It was this table that wished to go to. 1 walked very slowly partly because did not wish to spill the books that I'd spent the last hour in collect ing, and partly because of an unaccount- ably horrible feeling that had come over me- This part of the house was quite silent; in- deed it was often so of an evening. My brother had passed me on his way up- stairs, having been all day at Madrepore and no doubt being tired had gone to bed There were very few stairs at all, as the house was practically a one-storied one, rambling and full of angles, having been built and added to at various times; here and there little staircases streamed out leading to long passages and unexpected cupboards; {; the back drawing room door itself opened from a side flight of five stairs. As I had encountered two small chairs and an overturned music stand, l stood still for second, looking for a clear passage and thereby holding the lantern high and well ill front of me; as paused amid the complete silence that reigned an immense tiger slowly crossed the path of light, turning on me two burn ing yellow eyes, gleaming like vivid to- pages. I stood there in stiffened terror and heard my heart beat. Its mouth was loose ly parted and running with saliva; so wide was it hanging open at the corners that the serrated edges of the lower lips were plainly visible. It gazed with steadfast look of such grinning cruelty. such con scious maignity, that it froze my blood and turned my limbs to stone. This description of sight and feeling was, of course, the im- | pression of one vivid conception condensed by minutes agony.
 | The tiger crossed the India mating Of | the room with noiseless swinging gait; as l it appeared to have come from the obscur- | ity near the piano, so it vanished into ob- scurity beyond-that is, outside the path way of the lantern light. I stood perfect | ly immovable, still clutching the books with my left arm, still holding the lantern before me, still gazing at the place 1t had crossed, and apparently forever seeing that awful look upon the tigers broad face. | 1t seemed as if nay eyes saw the face, | though my mind had rapidly suggested the I frightful probability that the tiger was be- hind me. At the same time, by some dual 1 mental process, it was holding out hope that the animal had passed through the l great folding doors into the dark room be- | yond. l have no remembrance at all of my mind dictating the next action l pursued i; it seemed just an instinct indulged in by the body upon its own account and for its
 own immediate preservation.
 | of,,l1x ,try;f1 I out making the slightest unnecessary nolse
 or disturbing the hand that held the Ian
 tern, and then raising with slow effort one
 of the heavy little cbairs that blocked my | passage, I silently swung it on to my
 shoulders and held it so that it covered my
 head, then turned slowly sidewise with my
 mind impressed with the necessity of keep
 ing my lantern as far as possible behind
 me. This struck me at the time as clever
 and of unquestionable importance in saw ing my life. l managed to walk gently
 out of the room. l suppose I had been in five minutes, but it seemed like a weary
 hour.
 As closed the door and locked it my
 brother unexpectedly came down the pas
 sage and passed me on the little stairs; be
 was rather in a hurry.
 Godfrey" called after him, ''do you
 mind pulling the front door to In the large | draWlng-roonl as you go Dy!" It seems
 strange now, but could think of nothing
 else to say then, and I sad it slowly and
 quite naturally
 He assented and disappeared, and l, with
 out noticing it at the time, took in the chair
 again and with my lantern ascended the
 short flight of stairs, and proceeded along
 the passage to my own room, walking slow
 ly and guardedly. The mind had evidently
 been so shocked that it had not recovered
 it's dominant sway over the body. Upon
 reaching my own room I put the chair
 carefully down and sat upon it. The lan'
 tern had placed on the table at the same Wate[buU ConcTete & Asnhaltum Tn