Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1889-10-10

down the almost 1ndlSt1ngulSnaDle bar
rels, and l 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 doubtfully.
For two minutes we sat and listened.
Then long, hard drawn breath, ex-
PEELED in a painful, heavy sigh, came
out of the bushes on our right. / never
heard a sweeter sound in my life. 1t
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 5 o'clock we
climbed down aud 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-
IDENTIFY put out his paw and felt of him
I With natural curiosity as to what he
vas doing there. Just behind him
So ere two deep footprints. That was
all No blood, no tracks, and we
looked cautiously round without seeing
d sign. Fifty yards away there was
stretch of grass three feet high where
he was very likely to be hidden
Where could the tiger be, anyway?
Mitt and L 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 tremendous
roar, sprang clean out into the open.
He was so near that 1t was out of the
question to shoot. If / had flung my
rifle forward it would have fallen on
him. / could see his white teeth dis
tinctly and the red gap of his throat.
l.
dering how he could possibly open his
mouth so wide. NIitt and / were, per-
haps, ten yards apart, and the tiger
leaped out midway between us. In
stinctively the Annamite made wild
rush away on his side and / on mine.
The tiger had evidently walked just
far enough into the grass to be hidden
and had then lain down. His presence
there took us so completely by sur
prise that we were helpless. 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.
But his first spring was evi
IDENTIFY all he could manage, for
he turned Immediately and sneaked
back into the cover. Mitt fired into
the moving grass after him, in spite of
my shouted protests, tearing 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. I sent Mitt up a
tree, and he reported the sight of his
head. SO beckoned him down, climbed
up myself, pulled up the rife after me,
and there ]. could distinctly see the
tiger about seventy yards away, sitting
on his launches, with his back toward
me. / aimed at his spine behind his
shoulders, and when the bullet struck
he simply got up and turned half
round, giving me splendid chance.
My second bullet struck him in exact
ly the right place, and he made grab
with his mouth when it entered, then
spun round three or four times, like a
terrier chasing his TAIL and fell in a
heap. At this moment the three other
men, who had not gone home after all,
arrived on their ponies, so we walked
carefully up to him in line. There he
lay, or rather she, for it was a fine
tigress, little under eight feet long,
and very beautifully marked.