St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-21

| through our veins. A tiger so near!
| The naIa. or stream of water, was but
| ten rods from our tent.
Mr.. Norton turned to us. Ladies',
would you like 10 go Oh a tiger hunt"
Yes. indeed" we quickly answered,
eff tits not too dangerous"
Never fear; we will take good care
ofyou."
A Hindoo doctor from the village hos
pital rushed up at that moment and
confirmed the news in broken English.
big baghou he is. much man-eater
tiger in jungle. Yes'day one child
taken, last moon seven men. Come
thou also, Sahib, with us.
Preparing for the Hunt.
Immediately we made preparations
for the hunt. We put on leather belts,
well filled with cartridges. selected
Martini rifles, put CT pith hats with
turbans over them and moved off to the
da wa kliana. Here we found party
Of sepoys drawn up in line awaiting our
arrival. We soon crossed the little
stream, where we saw the tigers tracks
in the mud of the bank, looking like
footprints of giant cat. Breathlessly
we moved on toward the deep jungle of
tangled banboos and palms.
Tiger shooting is carried on in many
different ways in India. Sometimes the
hunter mounts great elephant and
shoots the savage beast from his how
dab as the native beaters drive the tiger
from his grassy lair in the jungle.
Where the jungle is very dense and
dangerous, so that the tiger may sur
prise the hunter unaware, the sports
man climbs Il tree and waits until the
tiger is attracted by the bleating of
" inc ii MI
But, at the best, tiger hunting is risky
work. and the hunter takes his life in
his HANDS.
MI. Norton, who had often shot tigers
on foot. took US under his special care.
The HindOO doctor, owing to his knowl
edge OF the jungle, was made the leader
of the entire party, and we bagan our
march.
1t was very hot morning. Every
ding around was parched and withered.
The dead leaves under foot were as Slip
perry as glass. The bambooS grew so
close together that it was impossible to
keep in direct line. Progress was ac-
cordingly slow.
We might have been out three hours
watching every patch of jungle and ele-
plant grass for sight of the beast we
longed to meet, when the wild chatter
lug of a troop of monkeys indicated that
the tiger was not far off. What an ex-
citing moment it was! Though the heat
was intense and we were very tired, on
we went, as Stealthily as possible, al
though sometimes falling on the Slip
perry leaves. But the bare feet of our
Indian hunters made no noise as they
stealthily stole through the dry grass.
Heated. GREATNESS, on we went. An
other chatter of monkeys, tlutter of
bright-winged birds as we stepped into
a small grassy place, completely encir-
cled by tall palms, showed that the tiger
was near at hand.
The Game Located.
A little i'll advance of our scouting
party of natives was q bit of green
jungle, heavy and dark. We could see
by the rustling of the grass that it was
the hiding place of some great animal.
A consultation was hurriedly held. How
should we attack him? There was not
an instant to be lost. Again the tiger
moved, and for second we saw his yell
low coat cleaning through the green.
Our talk was suddenly ended in an
unexpected way. A clump of elephant
grass at one side was quickly parted.
A great fash of yellow bounded toward
us, CLEAN OF blazing eyes made our
the royal creature in the jungle, with
open mouth, Ieaped suddenly upon us!
MOtiOnlesS. with amaZement and horror,
we stood. oh. the fearful, cruel face,
as she stood lashing her tail from side
to Sidel Her hot breath almost burnt
my face, as with outspread claws she
made one fierce bound toward me, dash
ing the SepOy in front to the ground.
l was paraiyZed with fear. Surely my
last hour had come! But a native
Sprang between us; the rifles cracked;
the hunting knives cleaned. 1t was
soon hand-to-hand fight. One gallant
young sepoy lay senseless; blood
dripped from the shoulder of another.
Still the enraged tgress,held her ground
while fear and horrible fascination
riveted us to the spot. Although bleed
ing from great wound in the shoulder
the tlgreSS once more made ready
to spring. The ladies were in imminent
peril, but the brave Hindoo doctor,
knife in hand, ylunged almost into the
jaws of the tigress in deadly embrace.
Over rolled man and beast; sometimes
a CLEAN of blood-stained white showed
where our poor defender was writhing,
but the great, tawny body of the tigress
seemed to fill all space. None dared to
shoot, for the rifle shot might kill the
man instead of the beast. Finally-it
might have been seconds, but it seemed
hours-a brave young sepoy rushed up.
knife in hand, his swarthy face under
his white turban cleaning with excite
| ment.
MEN Sahib!" he cried; "My doctor!
He save my wife and child. He must
not die today!" and the brave fellow
rushed forward into the jaws of DEATH
His silver-hilted knife, sharp as To-
ledo blade, CLEANED with lightning ra-
pidity; it descended just over the heart.
The tigress gave one scream that made
the jungle re-echo, then lay quiet for
ever. She had fought bravely for her
mate and little ones hidden in the jun
gle, but against numbers.
The poor doctor, blood stained and
senseless, was drawn away from under
the outstretched paw of the dead ami
mai. The other men escaped with only
a few scratches, except the brave res
cuer. who had great cash cut in his
brown cheek by the enraged tlgress.
The splendid animal lay stretched on