Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-07-27

BILE. They had just returned from
India they were all going to the thea
ter when they could summon up sut-
ficient energy to leave the club; and
they all thought they knew something
about tigers. They told tiger stories
in a meditative, lazy fashion-the old
tiger stories which had been handed
down from father to son and are hoary
with antiquity. Arbuthnot, the man
who had joined them little later, was
thin and slight of build. In the mid
die of story to which he was listen
ing, he would turn his head quickly
and lift his left hand, or, rather, the
remains of 1t, with a quick, involun-
tary action, and drop it again as II re-
assured When a waiter came behind
him unexpectedly, he moved uneasily
and restrained himself from rising by
a strong effort of will.
Its Arbuthnot's turn now," said
Anderton, the junior of the three. he
looks like a man who has been badly
scared by tiger. Wen give him ten
minutes, and then be off.
Arbuthnot gulped down his liquor.
81 was badly scared once" he ad-
mitted. "And, what's more, l shall
never get over it. / was living with
three other men at Nigritlng, which
had a very bad reputation indeed In
the way of tigers. OF course, that
didn't bother me very much until the
Man Eater stole my chokidar watch
mani and eat him. The tiger liked
my fellow so well that he came back
shortly afterwards, and walked on
with a new chokidar When chokidar
number three disappeared the matter
began to be serious-and expensive.
There was panic in the land.
couldn't get another chokidar for love
or money, and the relations OF the de-
funct chokidars would come and sit on
the bungalow veranda in rows and
solemnly heap upon my innocent head
all the curses they could think OF or
invent; and, what was worse still, they
did not confine themselves to cursing
me, but cursed my ancestors ana
ancestresses for five generations back
with patient persistenoy and coplous-
ness which / had never before ex-
perienced, and have no wish to again
undergo. Not content with cursing
me, one of them resolved to die on the
veranda. and made elaborate prepara-
tions for starving himself to death.
Suddenly, one of his friends pointed
out to him that the only drawback to
such a policy would be the fact that
the tiger came every evening, and that
no mortal with any self-respect likes
to die in less than twenty-tour hours.
If q native, who had made up his mind
to die, did it in hurry, ne
would lose all the qualification
of knowing that the Sahib in
side the bungalow was being
worked up to n pitch of madness in
the endeavor to think of something to
keep him alive. You all know the mar
velous manner in which native can
eliminate himself from this world by
simply making up his mind TO go
hence. / didn't want to have the gov
erument come down on me for causing
the loss of an entire village of natives,
which would assuredly have happened
after they had once started dying OH
like flies. 1t Is very like an Albanian
blood feud. A kills B, whereupon BIS
relations slay A, and AS relations
slaughter as many of BIS friends as
they can conveniently get hold Of
When cholxidar number one disap-
peared all his friends demanded COM
pensation, and when chokidar number
two was carried off the friends OF chokl-
dar number one thought it extremely
indelicate that the friends of number
two could not wait until their claims
had been satisfied. OF course, when
chokidar number three was waited
into the jungle you can imagine the
further complications which ensued;
thew were something awful. The only
way out of the situation was to COM
pensate the whole lot of natives and
settle the tiger before he killed any
more. was anxious to do this
for another reason; every native
in the village who had a decaying,
semi-defunct relative of whom he
was anxious to be rid put him
forward as a candidate for the vacant
post. The more infrm the proposed
watchman was, the better chance
would there be of his not escaping the
tiger and thus bringing in little COM
pensation to the relatives and, at the
same time, freeing them from the bur.
den of supporting him in idleness. OF
course, this was all very well from the
natives point of view, but / did not
see why / should be mulcted so heavily
because man-eating tiger did me the
honor TO eat my chokidars. was
quite content to pay extra wages II
the natives would take the extra risk,
4 Inft tn that
light, and wanted higher money as
sort Of insurance to go to their rela-
tives in case of accidents.
'"The matter at last grew to be so
serious that something had to be done.
I did not much care about tackling the
tiger single-handed in the lone black
ness of the night. The intense gloom,
in which you can't see your fingers be-
fore you, Is apt to unnerve man, es-
pecially If there is every probability
Of the beast sneaking In upon you
when you are half asleep, The mere
act of straining your attention on the
effort to keep awake gradually sends
you into a semi-torpid state. Then
comes the tiger, and after the tiger
oblivion.
"At length, / determined to ask
three other fellows to come over and
watch with me through the night un-
I'll we could settle Master Stripes.
Like all Englishmen who get together
In India, we had a good dinner, plenty
Of liquor, and cards afterwards.
About eleven, we all went into the
veranda of my bungalow to watch.
| There wasn't star to be seen any
where, and of course all the lights in
the house had been carefully put out.
| One or two of us started telling stor-
les, but, as we yarned, somehow our
| courage seemed to evaporate. 1t was
an easy thing to talk Of tiger killing
when we were sitting round the dim
ner table glasses in hand, each man
rivaling his neighbor In the telling OF
tall stories. Every now and then the
dismal howl of jackal would set our
nerves tingling and hearts going like
sledge- hammers. Then we would re-
member that there was safety in num-
bers, and at last, what with the din
ner and the drink, each man began to
feel drowsy, and fell asleep, his gun
by his side. My little toy terrier,
Sylph, coiled herself up at my feet and
| went to sleep also.
"I don't know how long IL was be-