Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1896-09-03
FIGHT WITH A "TIGER." "
by W. THOMSON.

At one period of my somewhat ad-
venturous 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, small aflluent of the
Belize, by which route our logs were
floated to the port of the same name
for shipment to Europe.
Though this valuable timber more
particularly ubounds In the hilly, 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 special road through the
tangled, vine-enlaced 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 rs many
Of these extra-sized logs as could OBJ
tain up to certain date. Such were
not to be found in the immediate neigh
borhood of our camp, however. Hence
I one morning mounted my favorite
saddle mule and rode toward El
Demonio valley, some ten miles away.
which my half-breed foreman assured
me contained considerable number of
extraordinarily fine, though scatter
ing, trees.
This place, was told, had been
christened El Demonio (the teviD val
ley by the superstitious natives, not
only because of It's gloomy, wild-beast
infested character, but also because
there was connected Herewith an old
blood-curdling legend as to the COM
plete and sudden annihilation of its
ancient iphabitants-a gruesome and,
probably, wholly apocryphal tale, too
long to repeat here.
After weary ride over rugged hills
and through lonely, brush-encumbered
ravines, l arrived at the edge of the
valley, and, securing my mule by u
trebled, unbreakabe lariat to tree,
in comparatively open spot, set ouS
to explore the forest, which in some
places was so matted and intergrown
with clinging parasites as to be almost
irnpervious 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
tying valley was so oppressive that to
avoid the labor of carrying it, very
foolishly left my repeating rifle
strung to the saddle, and took with me
only the revolver bclted to my waist, II
flask of water and light AK; the lat
ter for the double purpose of putting
preemption marks on selected trees and
"blazing" a line by which / might,
when ready to leave, find my way out oi
this wondrous wilderness of semi
tropical growth.
For nearly three hours, occasionally
climbing a lofty tree to gain better
view of my surroundings, / toiled
through those terrible woods, and did
succeed in finding 81 remarkably large
straight mahoganes, the least of which
when brought to port, would be worth
hundreds of dollars. Then, fearfully
tired, and hungry as wolf, turned
back to rejoin the mule, in whose pan
nier was stored a generous supply oi
food.
SO far no rain had fallen this day, but
now heavy, black clouds obscured the
sky, and knew by the deadly stiffness
of the sitting atmosphere that should
shortly be caught in one Of those ire
mendous downpours characteristic OF
the country. Though good drenching
was not likely to hurt me at all, tn.
rain would inevitably fill the open
montbed haversack, and reduce to 7
pulp the bread-and-biscuit part of my
lunch, besides spelling the modicum OF
ten 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 it was only tive
o'clock in the afternoon, so dark pal
settled down upon the scene that
could hardly distinguish, among theil
countless fellows, the blazed saplingl
which were my only guide out Of thS
labyrinth.
In addition to this untimely gloon
there brooded over all silence so pro
found that not few wild denizens ot
the woods, believing that night hat
come, began to steal softly from theil
lairs in search Of prey. Several of tn,
creatures approached SO close as tc
catch a glimpse OF my intruding form
whereupon they ynoiselessly skunk away;
but was fated to discover that all these
nocturnal providers were not so timid.
While the threatening deluge was ye,
In allegiance, / came to the edge Of tho
small, open space where stood the mule
and saw, to my surprise, that the usual
ly dccile animal wes, with fright-dis