Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1897-09-11

palms, did not dare to stir TO reach my
bicycle l must go as far as the road-im-
possible without attracting the attention
Of the cat, and in two laps he would be up
with me. How in that brief interval could
l mount and be off? Then, even if the
beasts surprise should be in my favor
should not be saved if he decided to give
chase. A bicycle will go over single
| league faster than a tiger, but could it
| cope with the formidable start of those
| first bounds? l did not believe it, and,
after hypnotic attack of few seconds, |
| stood trembling, my heart beating like
| trip hammer and my mouth as dry as a
stone. Not weapon had hot even the
| revolver that l carry everywhere and that
| fate would have me forget that morning.
was secretly hoping that the monster,
| gorged with last nights victims, had
come to the lake merely to quench his
| thirst. Allured far from every drinking
| place, he might have been seized with one
| of those attacks of thirst that under such
| circumstances are said to be irresistible
| among the felines.
| But If he did wet his tongue in the lake,
| it did not appear to be at all from neces-
sity. He soon lifted his dripping jaws
|
| of instinct l knew that, contrary to my
| hope, he had had an unsuccessful hunt and
| was looking for some compensation.
A false movement and ! should become
| that compensation. The time that the
tiger remained motionless, his topaz eyes
moving slowly from tree to tree, from bush
to bush, seemed an age to me in my terror.
For an instant he appeared about to
-I~v 9Ixy Il tv,Is
ferently toward the forest. Then, at the
rustling of bird in the foliage, he bent
his head quickly, while a phosphorescent
| light cleaned from his eyes. He remained
in that position, his head in profile, half
toward his shoulder, in as graceful pose
as that of cat Watching for it's prey. He
was evidently hesitating between two
routes. felt not only the beating of my
heart, but of my brain. Finally the beast
| made up his mind. He turned again to-
| ward the lake and took one step forward.
That step brought him no nearer to me.
1t might be that he had chosen favorable
| direction, but at a second step, more rapid,
my fright decided me.
| leaped once, twice and seized my wheel.
| Such a dizziness came over me that at
| first I could not tell whether the tiger
had stirred or not, but in a flash, while
springing to the saddle, saw him crouch,
| heard him bound. At the same instant
gave the first impulse to the pedals.
In spite Of my agitation my movements
were sure, neat, quick. 1t seemed as
though had become all instinct; that ev-
cry fiber Of my being obeyed that mysteri-
GUS will that avails hundred times more
than the clearest reasoning in times of i'm
minent peril. With two efforts I had &C.
quired great speed, and in the instant be-
tween the first and second bounds of the
cat my self possession had returned. 1t
all depended now on keeping ahead Of the
tiger, if never so little, for hundred me-
tiers, after which probably his speed would
slacken, though it would be still to be
feared. 1 pushed on with frenzied fire,
but at the fourth bound the distance be-
tween us was reduced to a few steps. At
the fifth was almost within reach of his
tawny paw, at the seventh he touched the
tire thought I was lost The effort that
made then seemed all in vain, but his
claws missed the wheel, hardly grazed it,
and he took his eighth bound little less
quickly just because he had failed of his
prize. During those dizzy seconds had
the inspiration to turn obliquely toward a
guava growing by the roadside and escaped
again, because through hesitation my pur-
suer was forced either to turn aside or
shorten his leap.
AS my speed had reached its maximum
had no longer any hope. was certain
that one or two more leaps would end the
struggle. At the next bound he almost
struck me, but while the wheel sped be-
fore his claws saw in flash that 1 was
going to cross small bridge, long and
very narrow, thrown across an irrigating
canal. That glance restored my courage.
/ had strong feeling that the tiger would
hesitate again and SO lose few meters.
That was, in fact, what happened. When
found myself on the other side, l had
gained a few steps. | firmly believe that
in my rapture accelerated my speed.
During the seconds that followed the
tiger regained little by little what he had
lost, but less easily than at first. A glim
mering hope came to sustain mo. Soon
it was an even match. ! cannot say that
redoubled my efforts, for had reached
the height Of my speed, but lost none OF
my energy. A few hundred meters more
and had the delightful certainty that
was not only maintaining my advantage
but that the tiger had lost couple of me
ters Coming to slight descent let my
self go like a projectile whose speed in
creases from its own momentum, and
gained again. Already q sense of triumph
was quiokening my pulse and swelling
my bosom. I thought was saved ant
was working my pedals in frenzy Of JOY
when an unforeseen accident almost
turned the scale. At the entrance to
field of bananas leafy branch thrown
down by some traveller was barring the
way. There was no time to avoid it; neither
could lean down nor dismount at sucl
crisis. In an instant had decided.
cleared the obstacle. Unfortunately wal
: awkward and was forced to slow up lit
tie to maintain my equilibrium.
The carnivorous beast must have per
ceived it. He made desperate effort, ant
foresaw that in the end must succumb
.. A sort of deadly faintness seized me, th,
madness of surrender, as terrible as ont
, sometimes experiences among the noun
tains, a strange resignation to death. II
a flash 1t was gone. An instant after
was making my last desperate struggle
The tiger, though still as fleet as gallan
hunting horse, was unquestionably con
quered by the bicycle. Soon he abandoned
the pursuit. partly from encouragement
, partly no doubt on account of the proxim
ity of the village that he had learned tt
fear.-Translated For Springfield Repub
lican.
Negro Distrust Of the Jay Bird.
Southern negroes regard the jaybirt
. with comically grave distrust. TO then
he is the counselor, guide and friend o