The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1890-05-21

and his fangs, and am frank to say that
for moment l was completely done for.
The native flung himself down on his
face without a word, and l knew that
neither suggestions nor aid could be ex-
pected from him.
1t was a starlight night, but the small
opening in the wall of the hut made the
room pretty dark, l could lust make
out the outlines of the tiger as he moved
4 to and fro, while his eyes were like two
small lanterns. There was no floor in
the hut, the ground being beaten hard
instead, but | could feel sort of Jar as
the tiger moved about. lie made a thor
ough inspection of everything in the
front room, and then turned his atten-
ton to me. My revolver was in my bag.
gage, and so | was entirely destitute of
weapons. | had seen the native wearing
long knife during the day, and / called
to him to know if he had it with him.
He was crying with fear, and would not
answer me. | went over to him and
! found the knife in a sheath at his belt
and when | had it in my hand my cour-
age came back in moment. About that
time the tiger had discovered that the
| only victims in the cabin were behind
the partition, and he sounded against it
right opposite me with force that made
everything crack. Left to himself he
would have knocked it down in short
order, but | was there to interfere. |
hacked him with the knife, and from the
way he snarled and spit / knew that I
had cut him. He withdrew to the far
end of the room, growing menacingly,
and / could hear him lick the blood
which the knife had drawn.
The general situation was far from
pleasant. BY knocking on the rear shut
ter and calling out | could make Captain
White understand how matters were, but
on second thought felt that it would be
20 his risk. The tiger might 90 out at
the opening any moment, and if he en-
countered any one outside tragedy was
certain. To alarm the village was to
bring about the same thing. Even if l
could get out Of the rear window by
forcing open the shutter the tiger had
only to go out of the other window at the
same time to pick me up. l felt that /
was pretty fair match for him with the
knife IN my hand, and, hoping that he
would give up and leap out of the win
dow after receiving another cut, l de-
cided to wait. l could just make him
out as he lay on the floor near the door,
and l was standing close to the partition
when he suddenly uttered roar of nger
and charged. He struck the sliding door
with great smash, and his right fore
paw struck at me through one of
the openings. l hacked at it and gave
him severe cut in the leg. This
time he sent up such a dreadful
roar of pain and rage that half the
village was aroused by the noise. He
drew back and ran along the partition,
probably hoping to find weak spot,
and three several times he reared up on
his hind legs, seized the bamboos in his
teeth, and shook them as you have seen
dog worry at a root when digging at
the hole of some wild animal. Then he
bounded toward the front and sought to
go out of the window, but stuck in the
opening, snarling and growing, and
finally dropped back. He tried this
three times and then gave up. As we
afterward discovered, there was huge
silver on the log at the top of the open
ing. This pointed inward. As the
tiger crowded his bulk into the opening
he pressed this silver up against the log.
When he undertook to go out the silver
diminished the size of the opening and
stuck in his back like a dagger. The
uproar he made alarmed Captain White,
and he called out to know what was the
matter.
''The tiger is in the front room and
can't get OUT" l answered.
"Why don't you shoot him2"
"The guns are in the room with him. "
When had fairly explained the situa-
tion he advised that l be on my guard
and ready to use the knife, and that it
would not be safe to make any new move
until we had daylight to aid us. l did
not know at that time that the tiger
could not get out where he came in, or l
could have forced the rear shutters and
escaped from the hut. The beast skunk
into a corner and lay there for time,
whining and growing. Then he tried
the opening again, and, when he found
himself a prisoner, he sat up on end and
howled without fear. believe l could
have then driven him about with
stick.
As the tiger lost his ferocity the ma
tive with me regained his courage, aud
by and by he got up and found heavy
stick among the bales of goods and
stood ready to assist me in beating off any
new attack. While the entire village
was awake, no one moved out of his
house, and all waited for the coming of
daylight. At intervals of fifteen minutes
Captain White sang out to us TO know if
we were all right, and about an hour be-
fore daylight he warned me that the
beast would no doubt fly into fury with
the first signs of day. From mid
night to 2 o'clock the tiger was
not quiet over five minutes at a
time. He would sit and snarl and
whine and lick his wounded paws for
time, and then go circlng around the
room and growing in way to make me
shiyer. As he passed along the partition,
rubbing his head against it, his eyes had
a CLINT in them which haunted me for
months afterward.
Upon the approach of daybreak the
man-eater began to grow more restless.
1t was time for him to be off TO his lair,