Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1897-03-25

one cage 10 the other and then
shove down the door Of the new
cage and put that on the platform:
"WeIl, we got the cages up close
together and doors opposite, and q
man on the roof of each cage raised
the door of that cage, and then we
began to prod the tiger, to make
him go through the opening into
the other cage. He started for it
and put his paw across the narrow
space between the two cages, but
instead Of putting it over inside the
! doorway of the other cage he put it
against the first bar on the side of
the door and pushed the cage away
a little bit. That was bad. We
ought to have made the cages fast
together, but we hadn't. We tried
to start him along a little faster;f
but instead Of going through into
the other cage he Kept pushing ON
that bar and pashlng the other cage
away.
"All this time he Vas getting a
little bit further out Of the old cage;
but not into the new one. THE man
on top of the old cage tried to shut
that door then, so as, to pin the
tiger in it and hold Elm till we
could drive him back, but the door
jammed when he first tried it, and
he couldn't bulge it, and all the
time the tiger was pushing the new
cage little bit further away and
getting further out himself. The
man on top of the lew cage was
still holding bis door open, hoping
that the tiger would step across in
to the new cage yet, and then he
would drop it down and hold him.
but the tiger kept pushing the cage
away till there Was easy room, and
then he just dropped down on the.
floor and walked round the end of
the new cage out into the arena.
"'Look out!' says the man on top
of the cage, and we did, and left
the tiger boss Of the show while we
made arrangements to recapture
him, and the tiger started in to take
look on his own account. There
wasn't anybody to get in his way;
he had the whole place all to him
self, and he waved his tai and glar-
ed around and started, aid kept 60
ing till he came to the monkey
cage. That seemed to interest him
more than anything else, and he
made his first stop there and stood
waving his tail and glaring at the
monkeys. He scared the little
monks almost to death, just stand
ing there looking at them, and they
rushed over to the back of the cage
and tiattened themselves against it;
trying to get away as far as they
could.
when the tiger pushed his cage
away his paw was againsta bar on
one side Of the door, nearer one
end of the cage than the other, and
so it was that end of the cage that
he pushed out; the other end stayed
in by the old cage; it made kind
of q V-shaped opening between the
cages, and the tiger had jumped
do wn into that and gone around
the end of the cage that was pushed
out. This V-shaped space made
kind of shelter, too, when the tiger
was around on the other side, as he
was when he was looking into the
monkey cage, and one of the keep.
ers hurried in with abouta quarter
of beef and threw it into the old
cage and pushed it over as far as he
could into one corner.
"The tiger smelied the meat. /
suppose he had been thinking about
how he would like the monks; he
could have eaten about one at a
mouthful. and there we're just about
enough in that cage to make 4
square meal for him, but the bars
were in the way, and he knew what
the smell of beef meant, and he
turned away and made for his own
cage again; walked across the open
space, waving his tail, and walked
around the end of the pushed out
cage into the little triangular space
and jumped Up into the old cage and
made for the meat in the corner,
and man jumped up on the roof
and jammed, down the gate,
"Well, you see. there didh't any
thing very desperate happen after
all, still, it was about as much tiger
as we wanted for one day."---Tew