Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-09-22


first glance brought despair to his heart.
Overhead were steep and barren rocks,
rising many feet in air, and here and
there stunted pine tree.
To ascend this place was impossible,
for the rocky lodges jutted out from the
face of the cliff.
He turned and ran at full speed,
searching vainly for some nook to hide
in or a break in the rugged precipice
that would allow him to ascend. He
tore through thorn bushes and bruised
his feet on sharp stones, but these mis-
haps were unheeded, for he imagined
constantly that the Cossacks were on
his track.
The path now became blocked with
loose bowlders, and in his haste among
these he tripped and came heavily to
the ground.
He rose painfully to his feet-rose to
find himself face to face with mon
strous tiger-a huge tawny beast that
lay supine On the ground.
The disturbed brute lifted his head
sleepily and surveyed the intruder with
glittering eyes. His long, spotted tail
twitched, and from his throat issued a
deep growl.
The tiger made no attempt to rise.
He looked at Maurice, and Maurice
looked at him. and in this position they
remained for full minute. Maurice
slid his hand cautiously toward his belt,
and the revolver was already in his
grasp when he suddenly remembered
that even should he succeed in shooting
the tiger, which was improbable, the
shot would at once draw the Cossacks
to the spot, and he would be in a worse
plight than ever.
The tiger solved the difficulty by
slowly rising, and that broke the spell.
Wheeling around. Maurice darted at
the top of his speed back along the
cliff. A hoarso growl warned him that
the tiger was coming in pursuit, and in
desperation he cast his eyes about for a
refuge
Such place met his sight instantly,
a deep crack in the very edge of the
hill, running parallel with the ground.
1t was posi- ly wide enough for him to
crawl in. and without stopping to
weigh the chances he threw himself fiat
and ran his head and shoulders into the
crevice. 1t was q tight squeeze, but
with a prodigious effort he managed to
drag his whole body inside and crawl
back few feet from the opening. This
he had bare.y accomplished when the
pursuing tiger pounced angrily upon the
spot and thrust his great jaws into the
hole, growing horribly all the while.
Maurice, seizing a loose fragment of
stone, dealt the brute violent blow en-
the nose.
He drew back instantly. screaming
with rage. and Maurice took advantage
of this interval to squeeze still deeper
into the crack. The floor was of soft,
sticky clay. The roof, which pressed
down on his head and body, was cover
ed with staluctites, and from these fell
water with q constant drip.
His situation was decidedly uncom-
Portable. He could scarcely move his
legs, and he had the restricted use of
one arm on, while the icy water chill
ed him to the bone.
Meanwhile the tiger, squatted outside
on the gi ound, was working himself i'll
to terrible rage. Presently he sprang
to the mouth of the crevice, and, rolling
half over OH his side, made vicious
dig at Maurice with his fore paw,
catching the lads arm and ripping open
the heavy sleeve from the elbow down.
The sharp claws tore the flesh, and the
smell of blood rendered the beast furl-
GUS. With eyes that shone like fire and
snarling fercciously he tried again and
again to reach his victim, jamming his
head against the stalactites and stretch
ing his great claws like india rubber.
Maurice drew himself as far back as
possible, expecting each moment that
tho great paws would seize him and
drag him out.
He made no further attempt to strike
the brute with the stone he still held in
his hand, fearing it would only inclte
him to greater efforts.
All this time the loaded pistol was
still in his belt, but he dared not fire
He could easily reach it, and no doub
he could kill the tiger without diflicul
ty, but the report wolIl, surely brinl