Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-07-16

occurred % alarm the beasts again. and
away they went at a tremendous gait, and
knew / should see nothing more Of them
that afternoon.
was now within four miles Of the vii
lage and on plain path, but the sun was
so lowethat it was twilight in the forest.
l was going forward at a good pace when
a huge hyena crossed my path with
growl. Two minutes later there were
yelps and snarls from every direction, and
/ realized that the night providers of tho
forest were astir. / was going bravely
ahead and would have been out of the
forest in half an, hour more when the sun
went down and l had to almost feel my
way foot by foot. The situation was any
thing but pleasant. If 1 climbed a tree
might be bitten by a snake lurking among
the branches, and the mosquitoes would
eat me alive in two hours il l escaped the
serpent. To go forward was to guess at
the right compass point, and heard
sounds to prove that wild beasts We're
providing about in every direction. Will
liams had borrowed my matchbox or
could have made torch. had a heavy
single barreled rife, but no extra ammu-
milton and therefore dared not fire signal.
1 was picking my way slowly, feeling a
beaten path under my feet, when of a sud
den l felt myself falling. One cannot re-
member his thoughts in such emergencies.
/ may have cried out, but do not recollect
it. 1 remember that, as L brought up on
my head and shoulders, l heard fierce
growing almost in my ear. Twas stunned
for moment. When pulled myself up
to a sitting position / was at one end of an
elephant pit, which was five feet wide,
twelve long and twelve deep The other
end was occupied by tiger l knew it be-
cause could smell him, and because he
had his eyes on me. and knew the eyes be
longed to tiger. Elephant pits are gen
orally SO irmly covered that no beast weigh
ing less than 500 pounds can break through.
This one, as I afterward ascertainsd. had
been covered so long that the poles had
rotted and weakened. The tiger was ahead
Of me in falling in.
No one can tell how Q wild beast WIN oct
under certain Circumstances. There Is
even a wide difference between two o4 the
same species. This tiger did not rush upon
me as l fell into the pit. but that might
have been the action Of another. As be-
came certain of the situation found little
in it to console me, and admit that was
bodly ratified. The tiger kept his two
grceoish eyes fastened on me. but glanced
at him only at long intervals. The fact
that he had not attacked me might be
taken as proof that he would not II DID
not provoke him. Il was q very hot night
above. but quite cool at the bottom Of the
Dit, and not a single mosquito found its
way down there. After the lapse of half
an hour began to get my nerve back, and
it may astQnish you to learn that took
number Of short maps during the long
hours OF that night. / was aroused from,
one of these by the low. fierce growls Of the
tiger. and moment later 1 looked up to
see the head of some wild beast on the
path above. II growled in return, and
set ii down for a hyena. | think the tiger
also slept at intervals. If not. then he had
his head turned so that l could no longer
see his eyes.
was sleeping quite soundly when day
light came, and whining, snuffing noise
made by the tiger aroused me. My eyes
were hardly open when he came over to me
and smelled of my knees and feet and
hands He actually rested his head on my
knees and looked into my eyes. | think he
was at first inclined to attack me, as he
growled in n menacing way and dashed his
tail, but as l shut my eyes and kept quiet
he finally changed his mind and withdrew
to his corner. AS time passed he grew I'M
easy and kept up n continual whine. Every
wild beast seeks its covert between day
break and SUNRISE and this instinct made
the tiger restless. The sun was just up
when l heard the reports of rifles, and five
minutes later the voice of Williams came
plainly to my ears. The tiger also heard
the sounds and thought he acted if
badly frightened. / was watching him
through half open eyes when the face of
Williams appeared over the edge of the
pit and he called out in horror stricken
tones:
Great heavens! but he's at the bottom
of this pit with tigeri Blank, are you
alive"
Yes" answered in a voice just above
a whisper; go and get one of the cages
and our ropes. The tiger is cowed, and
think we can secure him"
He did not stop to argue the point, but
returned within an hour with the outfit.
During his absence the tiger dug at the
bank with his claws and kept up whining,
and only once did he come near me- Then
he backed up and made a leap for the edge
of the pit. As he fell back he growled in
anger and disappointment and lay down
facing me. The only way to get him out
was TO moose him and draw him up through
the bottom of the cage placed over the pit.
Without another word to me they began
operations. At the first throw of the moose
the tiger showed fight, but only for a mo
ment The third throw caught him, and
it didn't take raore than a minute to land
him in the cage l was not yet out of the
pit when the natives identified him by the
bitten ear as the same beast they trapped
before our coming. He didn't serve the
same trick he did them, however. About
noon he became ferocious and tried to
break out, but we beat him with sticks
until he gave up, and from that time on
until we shipped him for Calcutta he was
almost as docile as a dog.