The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-10

] cred with low planlsJ anu Als uP ~
raw of moonlight. Cautiously Ma
Carthy raised himself above the aero
lite, and leaned over it.
He was filed with u~nspeakable hor
ror.
Toward the middle Of the space, tel
Yards AWAY at the mouth of o den
formed by superposed blocks of stone
he saw outlined the form of the rega
beast there lay the colossal tigress
Between her huge paws was Chandran
ohour, the laborer. He was not dead
ho did not seem to be wounded even
at anv rate seriously. The keen sigh
of the Irishman could see his eyes opel
and shut at long intervals, and hi
breast palpitatod with the rapidity o
that Of n bird caught in o mare TIL,
~tioress watched him in an indolent
manner, like n cat with a mouse. Ant
lie tbe cat, now and again she let &C
her prey, she relapsed into a posture
of negligence, of feigned i~nattention
of sommolent grace.
The Irishman, with rife ready, dared
not fire. a revulsion of fury, of pity,
for a moment rendered his hand un'
sure.
Two awful minutes passed. Ther
slowly, slowly, Chandranahour moved.
He stretched out his hands and raised
himself on his elbows. The moonlight
~Iirradiated his face distorted by speech
less terror; the contact with death had
lstifreued hismouth, and filed his widely
distended pupils with stupor. He
turned his head toward the tigress.
She seemed to be looking vaguely else.
where, sleepiIy Indifferent to the pres.
ence of her prey. Then Chandranahoul
began to draw himself along and sue.
ceeded in gaining two yards of diS
~tance. .
MacCarthy, seeing the livid face Of
the doomed man nearing him, took aim
with his rifle. Unluckily q movement
iof Chandranahour rendered all inter.
vention impossible at the moment ;
for his head came into the line OF
sight.
Course it all ~ murmured James.
However, encouraged by the contin'
ued indifference Of the man-eater, the
Hindu began to drag himself along
more quickly. A desperate hope lii
up his eyes, but only to die the next
moment he heard the beast move.
Suddenly she rose and made q bound.
The man, rs in q trance, let himself fall
to the ground, between the great paws,
face to face to the glistening teeth, the
terrible eyes.
"She is playing" murmured Djouna,
who had gone close to MacCarthy.
''Yes," returned the other, ''the ac.
cursed brute is amusing herself!' His
soul seemed plunged in darkness. He
saw looming in a lugubrious apotheosit
the beast who in our own era still dom,
mates ancient India; who is not only
the devourer of man, but who dares tc
amuso herself with him as though he
were merely a feeble animal.
In the intensity Of the moment, he
realized that by means of certain
nbtly displaced forces, by a little more
ruse joined to the terrifying swiftnesa
and the alert muscularity Of tigers, by
the merest power of association, the
reign of the feline would have been
possible. AT that moment there rose
in him o desperate thirst for ven
geance, oyermastering a desire to con-
quer the man-eater without killing her,
to torment her and insult her, to make
her feel the supremacy of the being
that for six years she had made her
prey. "Be calmi" He forced his heart
to beat more normally, and anger no
longer clouded his eyes. Meanwhile
the tiger, with n purring sound, and
with light, nimble movements, turned
Chandranahour over on the ground
and reveled in the joy of domination
and of power, The poor man, huddled
together, seemed like some poor infirm
nerbivore, thin, slight and ,defenseless
against the queen of the Jungle and
:he forest. She, blasee, a supple, ele'
CANT, awful synod of the struggle fol-
existence, soon recommended her ter
,ible play, recoiled without haste, in {
sremor of anticipation, her movements
mpelled by the contempt of the strong
for the weak.
When she was two yards distant she
Remained m~otionless, and her amber
eyes closed slowly. She was the ex'
oression of perfect gertrude; she
llready tasted the charm of this living
cepast that she was resolved to make
gery soon as she crouched there, the
sinister magnifcence of triumphant
: muscle. The victim had not relin'
pushed all hope. The instinct to live
beat invincibly in him, and dominated
The conviction that all effort wa
~iutile. After a moment ofuneertainty
! ae raised himself and recommended
| lis crawling flight exactly as he hat
lone before, that effort of agony
r terror and feeble energy. MacCarthy
this time, was in full possession of al
a his faculties. He allowed Chandrana
hours head to pass the line of vision
, and made his choice between tn
/ prudence of firing straight to the hear
o land his eager desire to punish tn
brute. The report rang out. In tn
cloud of smoke James saw Chan
aranahour's silhouet raise itself rapid
b and the bowling tigress with a crushe
lpaw lifted in a moment of surprise
4 stupor.
e "Courage!" shouted the Irishman, o
Y he leaped over the sheltering bloch
: ChGndranahour threw himself forward
the tigress made a short, rapid bound
4 lShe had not time to recommence.
: second shot rendered another paw us'
t less. Overcome, powerless, with r.
doubled howls and cleaning jaws 81
e lay there a mere symbol of force
Chandranahour, sheltered behind h
A protector, had, in excess Of Joy, loI
n the use of his muscles. In a daze
T condition he leaned against the stor
supported by Djouna. McCarth
seized his second rife from the han
|, of Bavadiee and took three steps t.
ward thetigress.
She tried to raise herself, or at lea