The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-01-10


them while they worked, and provided
the Corean san-chemg, or tiger hunter.
with a lance, and set him also to act
as a guard for the others.
I'm station1ng these guards felt
that I had taken all practicable pre-
cautions for the safety of the men iii
my charge. l was not at liberty to
withdraw them from the work. Bar
rows was armed with an English
breech-loading carbine. which was
the only gun at the mill, except two
or three Japanese flint-locks which
were not to be relied on.
SIN going to and from the place
where they worked in the forest, and
score of other times during every
day while at work, the Coreans raised
prolonged shout of Tue! Tue! Tuen'
to frlghten away the tigers. At all
hours of the Gay heard this strange
chant echo through the wintry soil
tudes, blending with the sound of
their axe-strokes.
CA week or two passed with no
fresh alarm. Barrows grew tired of
standing guard in the snow, and al
lowed the sGn-chsng. at his own re-
quest, to resume his axe. It was only
by a constant exercise of authority that
[ kept Bar'Ow5 with the crew. He
possessed the usual traits of an En-
glish sailor and held Coreans in slight
estimation. He grumbled continually,
and at length SO far relaxed his vigil
,ance as to take his blankets with him
into the forest and spend the time
mapping in front of a fire.
Gas evening was approaching. one
lay early in January. a large tiger
emerged from a thicket about sixty
yards from the place where the Core
ans were cutting logs. They had bare
ly time to perceive the creature before
he was among them, had seized his
victim, a youth about twenty years of
age, and was bounding away with the
lad in its mouth. The Coreans scat
tered, uttering loud outcries. Bar
rows fired an Intellectual shot at the
d.
lance. Some of the leaps made by the
animal in its retreat covered dis
lance of over four yards, as I after
wards found by measurement.
81 was at the lumber yards below
the mill experimenting the loading
of junk at the time of this second
foray, and before l could organize a
pursuing party darkness had fallen.
The Coreans huddled panic-stricken IN
their quarters. and l saw that they
would be useless as laborers until the
tiger that had twice assaulted them
had been hunted down and killed.
lit was easy to discern the Great
ure's track in the snow, which was
now nearly two feet in depth. making
it difficult to travel in the forest The
COreans use a snow-shoe made OF thin.
tough, hard wood, to which they give
the name of seL-naai. and set my men
at work to fashion several pairs of
these native rackets, which they fin
ished that night.
Meanwhile, I consulted with Bar
rows and three or four of the more
Intelligent among the Japanese mill
men, and the result was that we
started a hunting party shortly after
sunrise the following morning. 1t
was scarcely a sportsman-like party
it resembled rather forlorn hope
and although had picked out the
Quickest of the Japanese and Coreans,
l could see that some of them had
very little heart for the business be-
fore them.
1--WE were poorly armed for such an
undertaking. Two of the Japanese
carried fint-lock guns, and Barrows
had his carbine. The other men, to
the number of twelve, carried only
axes. | was armed with an axe and
my revolver.
1--WE followed the track of the
tiger, which was stained at intervals
with the blood of his victim, for about
two miles, first up the valley of the
river, then across a mountain ridge
heavily wooded with pine, and then
into valley beyond it. 1t was evil
dent that this entire region. now COW
cred with a dense forest, had once
been inhabited, for fragments of the
old walls of stone houses and temples
were plainly discernible through the
snow, and occasionally an old ruin of
considerable size doomed among the
| dark bOughs of the thick expresses
and pines.
Ascending the farther side of the
valley, the six or seven Japanese,
who were ahead of Burrows and N.Y.
self, came to where the trail ended
near large, irregularly-shaped
aperture in a mass of old masonry
which had formed part of the front
wall of high. artificial terrace This
opening. which was six or eight feet
above the surface of the ground, led
back into dark hole or cavern.
Elm front of this cavern large
drift had formed, nearly as high as
the bottom of the opening; but the
eddying wind had whirled the snow
outward leaving an open space more
than two yards wide between the
crest of he drift and the hole. The
tiger had bounded from the drift to
! he apr the wall T. nnd.
stains on the snow showed where the
creature had laid its burden down to
secure a frmer hold upon it before
making the leap
''At the crest of the drift the
Japanese stopped, and one of them
turned back to meet US, enjoining
silence. according to their custom, by