The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1889-10-12
SAVED BY A TIGRESS.
The Strange Event That Befen q
Hindoo Baby.


1t was in the spring of 1875 that I
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 a reputa-
ton 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 q tiger, and that the ma
tives had been compelled to corral
their oxen at night to prevent them
being carried OF. From the size and
ferocity OF the animal. it was popularity
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
tiger hunt. and thus while we honored
the occasion of my arrival at Nursing
poor in 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 heaters 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,
beheld spread out before me the long
line of heaters, and watched them, as
in half circle they silently entered
the jungle. We approached with the
elephant, which was trained and very
intelligent animal, to within a short
distance of the Jungle. and waited
patiently in the shade of heavy tree
for the heaters to drive the game in
our direction.
1t was while we were thus waiting
that my attention was attracted by
sight which. simple in itself, presented
about as pretty a picture as any one
might care to look upon. An Indian
woman. in beauty Of form rivaling the
statuesque grace Of Greek goddess, a
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:
20, sahib, sahib! the man-eater has
stolen my child. Look where he goesr'
Following the direction Of her finger,
I 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 nay rife a. 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
accelerating his progress.
20, sahib. great sahib," moaned the
unhappy mother, ''save my childr'
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-
plant forward in the direction that the
tiger had taken, l stopped down and
lifted the woman into the howdah
alongside OF us. She was not moro than
fifteen years old (women are frequently
mothers at twelve in India), and her
agony at the loss Of her frst-born was
dreadful to witness. She ceased to
wesp, and sat with . look of awful ex-
poCtaucy ON her fnco. e the huge olo-