St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-09-26
FIGHT WITH A TIGER
by ". THOMSON.

At ore period OF my somewhat ad-
Senturous life. and when many years
younger than now. was engaged in the
then lucrative business of mahogany
cutting in British Honduras, my camp
being situated on the headwaters of
Quesada river. a small aftluent of the
Belize, by which route our logs were
f1oated to the port of the same name
for shipment to Europe.
Though this variable timber more
particularly abounds in the hiily. semi
mountainous regions of the country.
exceedingly large individual trees are
occasionally found in the densely wood
ed valleys, and these giant specimens
are so highly priced that it often pays
to cut a special road through the
tangled. vine-en!aced forest to each one.
Now it one time happened that the
Liverpool dealers to whom my ship
ments were usually consigned request
ed me to send them at any cost as many
of these eXtra-sized logs as l could Obj
tain up to certain date. Such were
not to be found in the immediate neigh
borhood of our camp, however. Hence
] one morning mounted my favorite
saddle mule and rode toward FL
Demonio valley, some ten miles away
which my half-breed foreman assured
extraordinarily fine, though scatter
ing, trees.
This place. ] was told, had been
christened El nemonio (the deviD val
ley by the superstitious natives. not
only because of its gloomy. wild-beast
infested character, but also because
there was connected Herewith an old
blood-curdling legend as to the COM
plete and sudden humiliation of its
ancient irhabitants-a gruesome and.
probably, wholly arocryphal tale, too
long to repeat here.
After a weary ride over rugged hills
and through lonely, brush-encumbered
ravines, l arrived at the edge Of the
valley, and. securing my mule by
trebled, unbreakablc lariat to tree.
in a comparatively open spot, set ous
to explore the forest, which in some
places was so matted and intergrawn
with ,clinging parasites as to be almost
impervious to human passage. and alb
solutely so to the suns cheering rays.
In this region of nearly constant rain,
the sweltering, torrid heat of the low
lying valley was SO oppressive that to
avoid the labor of carrying it, l very
foolishly left my repeating rife
strung to the saddle. and took with me
only the revolver belted to my waist.
flask of water and a light AK; the lat
ter for the double purpose of putting
preemption marks on selected trees AMI
''blazing" line by which l might,
when ready to leave. find my way out of
this wondrous wilderness of semi
tropical growth.
For nearly three hours, occasionally
climbing lofty tree to gain 4 better
view of my surroundings, I toiletl
through those terrible woods, and did
succeed i'm finding 81 remarkably large.
straight mahoganies. the least of which.
when brought to port, would be worth
hundreds of dollars. Then. fearfuliy
back to rejoin the mule, in whose pan
nier was stored generous supply of
food.
So far no rain had fallen this day. but
now heavy. black clouds obscureI the
sky. and l knew by the deadly stiffness
of the sitting atmosphere that should
shortly be caught in one of those tre-
mendous downpours characteristic of
the country. Though good drenching
was not likely to hurt me at all, tn.
rain would inevitably fill the OPEN
lnouthed haversack. and reduce to 4
pulp the brcad-and biscuit part of my
lunch, besides spelling the modicum OF
tea and sugar which had brought along
with the intention of building little
fire and brewing pannikin of refresh
ing drink to go with my meal Hence.
Ipressed with desperate energy through
the thick underground. hoping to reach
the mule in time to cover those perish
able articles with waterproof cloak.
which was strapped behind the saddle
In those forest depths the light had
been dim enough even when the sky WAS
clear, but now. though il was only two
O'Clock in the afternoon, so dark pal.
s
could hardly distinguish, among their
countless fellows. the blazed sap!incs
which were my only guide out of the
labyrinth.
In addition to this untimely gloom
there brooded over all silence so pro-
found that not a few wild denizens Of
the woods, believing that night had
come, began to steal softly from their
lairs in search of prey. Several of the
creatures approached so close as to
catch glimpse of my intruding form.
svhereupon they noiselessly SUNK away;
but was fated to discover that all these
nocturnal providers were not so timid.
While the threatening deluge was We,
IN abeyance, came TO the edge of the
small, open space where stood the mule.
and saw, to my surprise, that the usual
" docile animal WIS. with fright-dis-
tended eyes. straining frantically back
ward on his tether. as il bound to break
away. GnppSs;ng that he, thus left
alone, was merely alarmed by the omin-
Gus weather signs, cheeriv callet:
out:
.Whoa, Pete. Whoa, good fellow; it's
oil right
On hei7n my voice. the sagacious
besst ceased pull, and stood quietly.
though still 8axing intently ahead, and
trembling .in-every limb. Obviously
enucthing more serious than the COM
- shower had scared him.
Aoering about to ascertain the cause
II - fear. l presently caught sight Of