The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-06-22
BY OWEN HALL.


and the point is who has the best
chance of getting to shore. When alrs
said and done, colonel, 1 guess that's
me-"
The colonel turned to me and held out
his hand cordially II knew you'd say
so," he said, land l thank you from
my soul, sir. OF course there is danger
great danger, I'm afraid, even with
! your bicycle-but there cannot be
doubt that it gives you a vast advant-
age over any of the rest of us, and 1
believe on my soul that you'll do it,"
Unwilling as could easily see all the
| others were to surrender to me the
post of danger, the truth of this view
| was so evident that, after little de-
| mur on the part of several Of them, 1t
| was tacitly agreed that 1 should make
the attempt. Under ordinary circum-
| stances, as the colonel explained, the
plan adopted would have been to trust
| to one of the native servants finding
his way through, but in this case we
had no one to send, as not one of them
| had been mounted, and therefore they
must either have been taken or dis
| persed at the first alarm. 1t was clear
| that l had a better chance on my BIZ
| cycle than anyone could have on foot,
as in either case we must have kept
| to the track or road, being wholly un-
equal to finding a way through the
| jungle. confess, however, that the
more we discussed it the less promis-
ing it appeared. 1t was clear that I
| must wait for night to come on, as it
would be impossible to run the gaunt-
let of the road in daylight, but even
then the dangers seemed hardly less.
A good part of the road was through
the open forest such as we had met
with during the mornings journey, but
part of it ran through a gorge or cleft
in the mountains where the jungle was
| thick, and which we heard, as we came
| up, had been the scene of good many
accidents with tigers of late. found
myself mentally noting the various
points of danger, and 1 confess they
seemed formidable. There was first the
road close at hand where 1 must run
the gauntlet of no one could say how
many enemies; then, if l passed them,
there was the risk-by no means a
trifling one in the dark-of losing my
way; and even if all went well so far,
| there seemed an excellent prospect of
adding one more tiger tragedy to the
ill-omened jungle that filled the long
gorge leading out of the higher levels
| of the table land.
The colonel's expectations had so far
been justified, for, excepting an oc-
casional shot at any of the party who
| exposed himself no attempt had been
made to attack US. Little by little the
| remainder of the afternoon slipped
away. The sun sank lower and lower
towards the western horizon until at
last it's rim was dipping behind the
dense fringe Of forest that bounded
| our view in that direction. l was
reused by a shout from overhead where
| two of the party were stationed as a
| lookout. AT the same moment Col.
Maitland came hastily out of the
large apartment which had been al
lotted to the ladies. Il believe they're
going to try it after all. Have you a
rifle, Hall?"
NO, colonel, but this is good enough,
and 1 know what I'm doing with it"
/ replied, as l crossed the yard at his
| side. There We're already some half
| dozen men under the arched gateway,
each armed with gun of some sort
| Most of them, it is true, were sporting
| guns of one kind or another but at
such close quarters as we We're likely
to have these were as good as any.
stand back" the colonel cried, land
| don't fire till they're close to the gate
| way" We drew back to the inside OF
the short, arched passage, and it was
| well we did so, for almost instantly a
hot fire was poured into the mouth OF
the entrace by a wide circle of marks
men who sprung up among the shrubs
and ferns on the tangled edge of the
jungle. Suddenly it ceased, and the
colone's voice said, quietly: Wait
| till l give the word" We had only a
second or two to wait, for with a rush
and a cry a number of men with dark
faces and white turbans hurled them
selves at the mouth of the gateway
They surged into the passage till they
seemed to be almost upon us.
Now" he said, fire."
We fired, every man straight before
him, into the leaping, struggling, yell.
ing crowd of evil-looking, dark faces
Then, clubbing the guns, we rushed ir
upon them. How it happened / don't
know, but they seemed to melt away
before us as we rushed forward. One
or two were partly down and struci
fiercely at those of us who were near.
est to them, and were in turn beater
to the ground with the gun stocks but
zone of the others waited. They were
yards in front of us as we emerged
from the gateway.
Back" shouted the colonel, "back!'
We fell back just in time, for a num-
Der of shots were fired and two of
our party were slightly wounded be-
fore we had regained the shelter of the
old arched passage
We waited, somewhat breathlessly
for renewal of the assault, but none
came. With all the characteristic rap
idity of the trophies the light waned
now that the sun had gone down, and
the shadows closed in, soft and mys-
terious, on the forest and jungle. We
had examined the little heap of bodies
in the gateway, but none of them ap-
| peared to have any life left To cars