Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1897-11-13
A TIGER HUNT.
In Costa Riea, with Plenty Of Sport, hat
Lht}e Game.

IN Costa Riea, with Plenty OF Sport, hat
Little Game.
Big preparations were being made
for our Christmas dinner of roast
pig with apple sauce, vonisop chops
and other dishes, and it was impos-
sible to escape the odors from time
30 time waited in fragrant breezes
from the outside kitchen. All the
doors and windows were, of course,
wide open, because in Costa Rica we
dc not know what winter is, and
there is hardly any change in climate
the year round. AS was sitting at
my desk thinking of all the good
things for dinner one of my men
came hurrying in with gun over
shoulder and dog at heel to tell me
ho had that very morning, and not
half hour before, seen tiger pass
through the bottom of the farm and
enter the bush about milo from
the house. He had seen the tiger
carrying a young one in it's mouth.
Would l get my dogs and gun and
hunt herr Well, yes, | would, and
pretty quickly too.
My neighbor, Mr.. S., was easily
induced to join the party, also a
friend of his who was staying with
him. So in all we were party Of
four, including the man who had
spsn the tiger. Mr.. S. had n repeat
ing shotgun, his German friend a
rifle which would not go off, our
guide a double barrol od sl,ots"- "nd
myself "A rifle. 1t took us about
three-quarters of an hour to reach
the edge of the forest, where the
tiger had been seen. Here the dogs
became very excitable, taking. tho
fresh trail with spirit. No one who
has not hunted in tropical forest
can realize how hard it is to make
ones way through. the bush. 1t is Il
matter of patience and machete
work.
Our German friend concluded to
sit himself down on log and await
developments while tho rest of us
followed after the dogs. We sup.
posed the old tiger would not travel
fsH, and this proved to be Il good
guess. What with the barking of
the dogs and the noise we made cut
ting the way with our machetes
the old tiger must have been badly
frightened.
AT about this time we beard our
German friend, whom we had left
on the log, calling us at great rate
and, as we made a circle back, could
hear him calling, II hear the tigeri"
And there he sat on the same log,
with his old rife TINT would not 60
off cooked and looking pretty ex-
pectant. We all listened, and, sure
enough, wo could hear crying and
splitting about IS yards off in the
bush. We followed up the sound
till we camo to Il snarl of an old tree
trunk and vines. We cut away the
vines as best we could with our ma
shetes, and there, squeezed up as
close as he could get to ii big tree
root, was Il young tiger, scratching
and splitting away at Il great rate
and doing it well too. ] crawled in
and grabbed him by the back Of the
neck.
There were no signs of the old
tiger. She must have been too
scared to stay and zee what was 60
ing on. Our German was very mad
wien told that his gun would not
shoot and, in fact. threw the gun
down on the ground and said that
he would be blowed if he would car
ry it homo, and SO peon was sent
out for it. | took the little tiger
home with me and kept him some
time, but the facts are that the cook
overfed him, and he died from the
effects
We all enjoyed our Christmas din
ner that day, including the little
tiger, who had his share
A week later we had calf killed
by jaguar, but that is Il different
story. They are all cowardly and
will not show fight to Il man unless
badly wounded The black panther
is also found here, but is quite rare.
On the other hand, the jaguar is
common enough.
This country is rich in game and
should be bette known. Forest and
Stream.