Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-07-23
A HUNTERS NERVE.
Calmly Facing Ferocious South
American Tiger.

1t was in the state of Mirandea, New
Venezuela 1t was three o'clock in the
morning, and was with Manuel, the
tiger hunter, on the mountain. After
O. half-hour of cautious walking Man
uel paused at turn in the narrow
path, and l felt rather than saw that
the dawn of day was at hand. There
was a strange stir in the air, as though
the feeble breath of life had come
back to the dead and inanimate nature.
Over beyond the eastern mountain tops
the stars were growing pale. The first
faint gray tinge of dawn was coming
long way off.
Day came slowly. 1 noted this with
surprise, for / had any number of times
read descriptions of dawn in the trop-
les wherein it was represented that day
came with bound out of the blackness
of the night Perhaps the writers of
these descriptions had waited until the
sun had already Redeemed the eastern
sky before watching for the dawn.
From the time that l noticed the first
faint gray streaks in the sky until the
sun was actually shining on the noun
tain tops it was perhaps little more
than an hour. have seen the day
break in the Rocky mountains in the
same length of time, with the only diff
ference that in the tropics the day came
more swiftly after the rosy lights
had come into the sky. Between the
first grays of the early morning and the
rosy hues of actual day there was little
difference in the Cordilleras and the
Rocky mountains.
could have watched the coming day
for another hour, but as soon as it was
light enough to see the surrounding OBJ
jects Manuel carefully chose a spot
which 1 could occupy during the i'm.
pending gladiatorial exhibition. 1t
was the peak of q high rock that al.
most overhung the path that he
eventually chose, and with some diff
Guilty climbed to the top of it. Nature
evidently had intended the rock for
some such purpose as this, for it gave a
good view of the path for some dis
| lance on each side. l could easily have
seen any animal walking upon it for
considerable distance in either d.
rection. There was plenty of evil
dence, too, that the advantage of this
peak as lookout station had been ap-
preciated and used by other hunters
than man. Indications showed that
wild beasts, presumably tigers, had
crouched there in wait for unsuspect
ing prey. This discovery gave me 6
mild sensation. l might be reasonably
safe from the attack of tiger in the
path below, but / hesitated to think
what would be the result If tiger
came up and found me occupying his
private personal outlook.
When I was comfortably concealed
behind the rock, although in a position
that permitted me to keep careful
watch of the exposed parts of the path
Manuel disappeared. He was stand
ing by the base of the rock one mo
ment, and the next moment he hat
vanished. He must have gone like 1
serpent, for heard no sound. Then
was alone on a tigers favoritbresort il
an uninhabited South American forest
1t was hardly pleasant sensation, es
,pecially as my revolver seemed to be
as doubtless it was, a very inadequate
weapon. A suspicion might hav
crossed my mind that Manuel had lef
me there as a bait for a tiger, but
would not give it a moments credence
There were noises on the mountain
side by this time, and some of then
were so distinct that could distinguish
them. Small animals were scamperin
about in the underground and bird
were calling in the trees. A commc
ton among the birds some distanc
down the path attracted my attention
and / wondered if a tiger had stirre
them up, or if Manuel had strayed a
far away as that. A few moment
later there was another commotio
in the distance on the other hand c
me, but I gave little heed to it o.
the right-hand side of the path smal
creature, something like a Mort
American woodchuck, stopped short i
his leisurely morning walk and sniffe
suspiciously at the air. 1 was to lee
ward of him in the light breeze tina
had sprung up, and so he could nc
have scented me. He shifted a momer
In the direction of the first disturbance
and then suddenly dived headlong int
the underground. Assuredly there wa
something off to windward that he wa