The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-05
THE CONVENIENT TIGER.
a HUDOO FAKIR'S PBRFORNrIRoEs
~. AND VIVID READLNe.

~ .1NN NA-N
blossomed yogi in all my years in India. One
has to oomo to America 70 find out the wonders
and mysteries of theosophy," said J. O. Pow.
ton, formerly OF her Majesty's East India civil
service. But 1 have seon performances Of In
dian fakirs quite as inexplicable az anything I
have heard of the M~ahatmas. There was one
in particular In which, was concerned-a mat
tor OF some twenty years ago. 1t had q tragedy
in 1T, and some things which neither you nor l
can explain. You understand, no doubt, what
an Indian fRkir is-A man Of the Brahminica
faith who devotes his life to communion with
the Hindoo gods. Through prayer and con.
temptation and the leading of an esoetic life the
fakir attaIns powers that seem miraculous to
the Western mind.
1.-THE fakir that l am to tell you about came
omo afternoon to Archie Redvon's bungalow,
near Charpore. where 1 had been staying for q
few days during q round of inspection. He
was an old, brown-skinned man, with q long,
intellectual face. and hair and beard snowy
white. A waist cloth, turbHn. and sandals
were all he wore and the rest Of his visible be-
l~ongings consisted of q prayer mat, q hubble
bubble, .or ~snative water pipe, and an oarthen
bowl from which no ato his food. He spread
his mat In tho middle Of the compound, seated
himself oross-leERed upon 1t, and began to take
tinsel balls from Somewhere-from the mat, II
seemed, although none could be seen upon it
blu " Vt JhGIl IL ny IL w lhJO bh0 ak
Each one, az he threw IL, went sailing up. up,
until 1t was out OF sight, and mono of them same
down. Then he did tho boy and ladder and the
mango tree trick in q manner that showed that
ho was q fakir of no common order.
Then be took q hollow reed, fashioned II
into q sort of pipe, and went round in the COM
pound and,on the outside Of the bungalow, play
ing a weird tune. Presently q cobra poked its
head out from q hole In the wall, Its body fol-
lowed. and the serpent came to the ground, and
glided along after the fAkir. Soon another 90
bra crawled out Of the grass and followed the
sound OF the pipe. When the fakir stayed his
steps the.snakes stopped, and as he played on
the:reed they reared their hooded heads from tho
ground and their bodies swayed to and fro as If
they were keeping time with his piping. He
| called for q basket. A house servant brought
him one. and tho fakir, with his bare hands,
took the snakes each by the neck and body.
placed them in the basket, pressed their heads
down, and tied q cloth above them.
This ended his performance. Redvon gave
him q rupee, and 1 handed him ave. for 1 had
never seen anything to compare with what he
had done. lie gravsly took tho coins, after tho
manner of the Brahmins, without q thank or
salaRm. But as he dropped them somewhere
in his waist cloth his eye fell on my servant
Eagho, standing at my. shoulder, and he looked
at him with Q strange intentnesS, then turned to
mo with q gaze az searching. Have you over
CHANGED to notice . Hindoo's eye-so sombro
black, 80 keen to see and comprehend. and re-
vealinR no moro than q pool of ink might the
thought behind It. But l noted In the fakir's
eye what seemed to mo to be . flash of percep-
ton. of discovery, as his look rested on Nagho
and then on me-. 1t was the episode Of O mo-
mont. He said nothing, but picked up his mat
and pipe, put the basket and snakes on his
shoulder, and went his way, taking the direc-
tion Of Charpore, three miles away
"On the next day l had to go to BaGhra to
meet the deputy collector there. To save dis
lance l decided to travel in a palsnquin over a
Of going twice as far round by the highway. I
made my start in the middle of tho afternoon,
evening. In my travelling satchel were notes
and coin to the value Of 1000 rupees. which 1
last hour Redvon showed some anxiety about
M. taking the route had chosen
Once your start Is made don't waste any
Beyond Charpore the road Is through jungle all
the way. There's q chance Of dacoits-and
them them II or s0s get D1 a Tiger SCARE csleef they Sap1 Woald t aP9e
nothing Of setting down the palAnquin and
Il had cleaned and oiled and reloaded my re-
he had still another caution to give me. He
looked at Nagho,, who was filling a water vessel
from omF 2 ehatty at TIE further 6nr END q the T YER ada;
lorgl' he asked. My steward tells me that he is
q hill man by birth, that he talks the argot OF the
Indian thieves guilds, and he carries n tulWar.
Do you know that you can trust him7'
This was news to me about Nagho. 1 had
hired him two months before in Calcutta. He
had come well recommended and had proved q
capable servant. did not like the idea that he
should have carried a tulwar unknown to me.
The tulwar, let ne explain. is tho wide-bladed
knife which the men of the hill tribes use SO Of
teTs'T or 'th bP Vknsin {. ~ With Els 81 t H1 SlHs0 a 9qhaif Xii
mau can cut off the branch of Q tree twenty
| I mazda III INV mind that l W0n1h find nuf mara
about Nagho before 1 took him with me- on an.
other trip, but to-day there was nothing that
could well do in the matter.
81 think the! Hindoo is all right I said to
Redyon. IN have my eye on him, though.
Good.,by. Hope IN see you at BaGhrA next
" shook hands, and the four bearers of the
miie.an.hour gait, with Eagho and Two relay
bearers following. At Charpore, where we
hfS oiddp Of q 3 rep report ABOUT a a tiger Which, viii IeS Wss SAID aid
to have killed AMMAN or two lately on tho road
to BaghEa. and when they started omit was
shown in tho beginning. Wo had got about
four miles beyond Charpore when we met a
tho village, and they shouted Tiger! Tiger!'
as they came near us. l managed to find out
from them that no one had been hurt, but that
one of them thought that he had seen a tiger.
That was enough for my six palanQuin bearers.
They..set the .palanquin, down and Joined the
grass cutters in their run for tho village, leav-
Ing me with Nagho in the jungle.
thcr to Baghra. and decided that I would waiK
there rather than turn back. l spread my UNI
brella to protect nue. from the sun, and started
A~long:the path, with Nagho following. carrying
the sAtchel. 1t was Il rough road. miry in
places. i had to stop often to rest so as not to
be overcome, by heat, and darkness fell before
we had made a third of tho remaining dis
lance to Baghra. But ! plodded on in the
darkness, feeling rather than seeing my way.
and hoping that nearer Baghra the road would
improve. I was beginning pretty thoroughly to
distrust Nagho. There had como an unpleas-
ant change OF expression in his face since tho
palanquin pen had left us. and did not like
the furtive look In his eyes which / had caught
several times in turning suddenly toward him.
Now that darkness had fallen. l carried my re-
volvers In my hand, quito as much on his ao-
count as on the chance of fallingsn with a
tiger or leopard.
II had ordered him to walk ahead. which
command no obeyed sulkily. He was walking
about thirty feet in advance OF me when he
against II treo root, sending mo sprawling to
the ground. As fell something whizzed above
my head and | heard leaves and twiRB falling
far back Of mo down the road. 1t was Nagho's
tulwar, and but for my lucky tumble 1t would
have split my skull ms neatly as you please.
The. Hindoo ran as soon as he saw that his knife
had missed. taking the satchelSwith him. /
sent three shots after him from the ground,
| than onf ~ u,II Al nptal -, -