The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-09-01

pol00b 0S4 ~ oofo 70 o11R. - roacn my
hcysls ! mus % ~ far ~ The road-im.
possible without attracting the attention
Of the oat. and In two laps 10 would be mp
with me. How In that brief interval could
I mount and bs or Then, even II tho
beasts surprise should be In my favor I
should not be saved II he decided to give
chase. A bicycle will 60 over . single
league faster than a tiger, but could 1t
cope with the formidable start Of those
FIRST boundss I did not believe II, and,
after hypnotic attack of q few seconds,
stood trembling, my heart beating like
trip hammer and my mouth as dry az .
stone Not weapon had I-not even the
revolver that I carry everywhere and that
fate would have me forget that morning.
Twas secretly hoping that the monster,
gorged with last nights victims, had
come to the lake merely to Quench his
thirst. Allured far from every drinking
place, he might have been seized with one
Of those attacks Of thirst that under such
circumstances are said to be irresistible
among the felines.
But II he did wet his tongue In the lake,
It did not appear to DO at all from noces-
sity. He soon lifted his dripping jaws
and looked searohingly about By a sort
Of instinct knew that, contrary to my
hope, he had had an unsuccessful hunt, and
was looking for some compensation.
A false movement and should become
that compensation. The time that the
tiger remained motionless, his topaz eyes
moving slowly from tree to tree, from bush
to bush, seemed an age to inc In my terror.
For an instant he appeared nbout to
withdraw. He turned slowly and indif-
ferentiy toward the forest. Then, at the
rustling Of bird in the foliage, he bent
his head quickly, while q pbosphorescent
light CLEANED from his eyes. He remained
in that position, his head in profile, half
toward his shoulder, in as graceful pose
Us that Of cat Watching for its prey. He
was evidently hesitating between two
routes. I felt not only the beating Of my
heart, but of my brain. Finally the beast
made up his mind. He turned again to-
ward the lake and took one step forward.
That step brought him no nearer to NO.
It might be that he had chosen favorable
direction, but at second step, more rapid,
my fright decided me.
leaped once, twice and seized my wheel.
Such dizziness came over me that at
first / could not tell whether the tiger
had stirred or not, but In fash, while
springiDg to the saddle, saw him crouch,
heard him bound. At the 6,Ine Instant
I gave the first impulse to the pedals.
In spite of my agitation my movepents
were sure, neat, quick. 1t seemed as
though had become all instinct; that ev-
cry fiber Of my being obeyed that Inysteri-
Gus will that avails a hundred times more
than the clearest reasoning in times Of i'm
minent peril. With two efforts had ae-
quired great speed. and in the instant be-
tween the first and second bounds of the
cat my self possession had returned. II
all depended now on keeping ahead Of tho
tiger, If never so little, for hundred me-
tiers, utter which probably his speed would
slacken, though 1t would be still to be
feared. pushed on with frenzied fire,
but at the fourth bound the distance be-
tween us was reduced to few steps At
the fifth was almost within reach Of his
tawny paw, at the seventh he touched the
tire. I thought was lost. The effort that
made then seemed all In vain, but his
claws missed the wheel, hardly grazed 1t,
and he took his eighth bound little less
quickly just because he had failed of his
prize. During those dizzy seconds had
the inspiration to turn obliquely toward
guava growing by the roadside. and escaped
again, because through hesitation my pur-
suer was forced either to turn aside or
shorten his leap.
As my speed had reached its maximum
had no longer any hope. was certain
that one or two more leaps would end the
struggle. At the next bound he almost
struck me, but while the wheel sped he
fore hts claws saw in flash that was
going to cross small bridge, long and
very narrow, thrown across an irrigatinR
cannl. That glance restored my courage.
had strong feeling that the tiger would
hesitate again and so lose few meters.
That was, In fact, what happened. When
found myself on the other side, had
gained few steps. / firmly believe that
in my rapture accelerated my speed.
During tho seconds that followed tho
tiger regained little by little what he had
lost, but less easily than at first. A glim-
mering hope came to sustain me. Soon
1t was an even match. cannot say that
l redoubled my efforts, for I had reached
the height Of my speed, but lost none Of
my energy. A few hundred meters more
and had the delightful certainty that
was not only maintaining my advantage,
but that the tiger had lost couple of me-
ters. Coming to slight descent let my
self go like projectile whose speed in,
creases from its own momentum, and
gained again. Already sense of triumph
was quickening my pulse and swelling
my bosom. thought was saved and
was working my pedals In frenzy Of joy
when an unforeseen accident almost
turned the scale. At the entrance to
field Of bananas a leGfy branch thrown
down by some traveller was barring the
way. There was no time to void it; neither
could lean down nor dislnount at such
q crisis. In an instant had decided.
cleared the obstacle Unfortunately was
awkward and was forced to slow up lit
tie to maintain my equilibrium.
The carnivorous beast must have per-
ceived 1t. He made desperate effort, and
foresaw that in the end must succumb.
A sort Of deadly faintness seized me- the
madness of surrender, rs terrible as one
sometimes experiences among the noun
tains, a strange resignation to death. In
flash 1t was gone. An instant after
was making my last desperate struggle.
The tiger, though still rs fleet as gallant
hunting horse, was unquesti0nably con-
quered by the bicycle. Soon no abandoned
the pursuit, partly from Encouragement,
partly no doubt on account of the proxim-
ity of the village that he had learned to
fear.-Translated For Springfield Repub-
lican.
Negro Distrust Of the Jay Bird.
h. l-J