The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-07-06
>IALI'S PERIL.


pulse, she might have strayed down
the narrow path to the pit. Mean
while, the Wailing about me increased
l dropped over the ledge, soon reach
ing the pathway by a short route. AS
! penetrated the jungle. now suffused
with mist in the ruby glow Of the ex-
piring day, l realized with what risk
to myself / was entering this danger
Gus spot, all unarmed. / was still de-
batting whether or not TO return for a
weapon Of defense, when, as l leaped
over a soft spot in the red clay, | saw
two footprints that shot terror into my
heart; n was that Of a mamOth tiger,
the other belonging to a little child.
dropped down beside them. No.
there was no mistaking them, so clear
ana fresh We're both. Then | crept for
ward, scarcely daring to breathe, my
heart beating faster and faster with
apprehension.
The distance to that tiger pit seemed
TO be doubled, and the time that
elapsed before reaching it everlasting.
The cracking of the leaves and tWigs
on the moss beneath my feet added TO
my trepidatiOn. Almost before l real
lied it / had reached the big trap, and
then halted short, thrilled by the sound
Of something human Looking ahead
through the deepening rnists and in
tervening bOughs l saw the little child
figure Of Iali creeping out upon the
Withered branches over the pit. For
the instant | had no power to move,
nor dared / speak, lest, overcome with
sudden fright, the frail little one might
lose her fOOthOld. Suddenly d new hOr-
rOr disclosed itself. What We're those
two glazing, cold, yet fiery points just
beyond the pit, burning their way
through the shadows? 1t was the tiger.
In like these ones reason
ing powers become s~uperhuman. |
saw hat in all probability either Iali
or | was to be sacrificed, which one
depended merely upon the caprice of
the wild beast. l had heard that the
calm, steady, fearless stare of a human
is more terrifying to wild animals than
guns that kill. On the instant l re-
solved to practice it; it was my only
| expedient. SO l stared at those two
coldly bright and glowing points Of
: light like a mailman.
Suddenly l saw the little figure
WAIVER on the dead branches over the
, mouth of the pit, and then, with a
weak little cry oor Iali nd lost her
foothcld and slipped slowly through
the yielding bOughs into the cave be
! meath. For a mOmen all vas silent.
Then l heard her childish prattle. The
soft sand had broken Iali's fall and
I saved her life, while l was brought
face to face with the most awful prob
lem Of my life. For what seemed hours
[ stood like a pillar of stone, the pers-
piration pouring down my neck, my
tongue hot and parched.
Suddenly. as | stood like one in a
trance, facing this growing problem, [
, was conscious of a stir in the reeds
and underbrush at my right hand.
{ Though the sound caused me to trem-
BILE, l dared not take my eyes from the
crouching monster beyond. The next
instant a strange, huge shape crept
s~tealthily out of the underwood and
advanced into the clearing toward the
pit-a pOnderOus black monster. 1t was
a mammoth O~rang-Outang.
The tiger CrOuched lower. He seemed
10 be as nOnplussed, as stunned by the
intrusion of this huge interlOper as I
was. II mOtiOnless silence he trans
ferred his burning gaze to the man.
moth monster.
Advancing to the very edge of the
pit. the huge ape slipped, but he re-
covered. He saw that the branches
were only a blind. Then he walked
around the edge of the trap and knelt
! down like a human being, slowly, de-
l~iberately reaching out his long. hairy
arm till his giant hand clutched that
bullock bone. Then, to my intense
relief. the 0rang slowly dragged the
! great mass Oh lltSl Oil Tie IlcLNol ~ VI
branches upon the solid ground.
Fol a moment longer h CLEAN of
those two terrible eyes, now like peep
holes into a fiery furnace, followed the
unsuspeCting pilferer. Then came a
rustic, a TRANCE shrek like thunder,
a bound and a roar, and the Jungle
god had sprung INTO the air and come
down like a flashing avalanche full up
on the broad body of the kneeling
orang. A single paw struck the man.
moth ape in the back, and with an al
most human grOan the rescuar of my
life and hers gave up the booty, to-
gether with his own life. Then the
tiger. with a final flash Of eyes full in
to my own snatched up the carcase of
the bullock in his flaming jaws and
slid off into the thick of the jungle.
After that, when he knew all, Pun
da-Tsang burned incense harder than
ever, for he avOwed hat the gods had
at last forgiven his former crime; and,
generally speaking. Punda became a
better sort of a Malay than before
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