Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1898-08-03
FIELDS OF ADVENTURE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.

miles back from Vladivostock, Siberia,
relates a traveller in the New York
Sun, is the town of Moro Tchestra, a
place of some Importance on the
frontier. Twenty miles below it is a
native village, with some unpronounce-
able name-a little hamlet of about
twenty houses lying near the river,
with woods and cane jungle all about
it. 1t was in midwinter, after snow
had lain on the ground for weeks,
that q tiger began to come to the vii
lage from time to time by night and
kill COW or a sheep. That was bad
enough, but presently he carried off
an old man, and the week afterward q
girl.
Some people saw him and told great
stories of how big he was, and the size
of the tracks he left in the snow
backed up their statements. The
villagers felt that they were not equal
to dealing with him, and they sent
deputation to the officers of the gar
rison at Novo Tchestra asking them to
get up a hunting party to come out
and kill the tiger. That was good
enough sport for them, and four Of
ficers, with ten or twelve private
soldiers to act as beaters, came to the
village next day. With them was an
Englishman named Norris, who
Glanced to be staying at Novo
Tchestra. They brought with them
pack of Russian bearhounds to use at
pinch, although it would have been
the same thing as killing them out
right to set them after tiger. The
party arrived in the afternoon, too
late to hunt that day. The officers.
with Norris, stopped at the house of
the head man of the village. The
soldiers were billeted among,,the vii
layers, and all hands waited for the
morrow to begin their hunt.
AS the party in the head mans
house sat drinking vodki and smok-
ing, scream was heard outside and
then cry of "Tiger." They rushed
to the door to find that q soldier had
been carried off by the tiger. His
cries were heard several times dying
away in the distance, but it was USE
less to try to pursue the tiger in the
darkness. 1t appeared that the soldier
had left the hut where he was quar-
tered, against the advice of his host,
to visit his comrades in another hut.
He never reached it. Between the
two houses the tiger had pounced on
him and carried him off. In the morn
ing the marks of the struggle could
plainly be seen in the snow, and the
tracks where the tiger had prowled
watching the houses for victim.
This was bad beginning, but it
made every one more eager than be-
fore to kill the tiger. The tracks were
plain on the route the tiger had taken
when the party set out next morning,
so the dogs were left at the village.
Half mile away, in an evergreen
ticket, they came to where the tiger
had stopped to devour his victim.
What he had left of the body he had
dragged under the thickest bushes as
if he had meant to hide it. From this
spot he had gone straight to the nearest
watercourse and drank, then turned
toward place, three miles away, where
Buddhist monastery once had stood.
1t had been ruin for centuries, but
part of the wall with broken arches
still was standing. The tigers tracks
led to hole where an arch had partly
caved in and there they ended.
How to get to the tiger or to get him
out was the next question. The sol
diers had their rifles along, but the
order to them was not to fire except by
word of command. AS the officers
stood before the hole talking over what
they had better do in the matter, Nor
ris, who was reckless sort of fellow
went close to the wall with the idea of
peering into the hole and trying to
rout the tiger out with a shot Before
he could do this the tiger bolted of his
own accord out of the hole straight for
the officers and was among them be-
fore one of them could fire his rifle
In an instant he had knocked one of
them down, seized him with his teeth
and turned back toward his den. No
one dared fire for fear of hitting the
man until the tiger was at the entrance
of the den. The brute paid no atten-
ton to Norris standing against the
wall, but dropped the officer whom he
had seized by the side so as to shift
his hold to the shoulder that he might
drag him through the narrow hole.
This gave the Englishman his chance,
and he fred at the tiger at distance
not three rifle lengths away. The
bullet struck between the eye and the
ear making hole that looked as if it
had been cut with a die. The tiger
did not need a second shot, but he
clawed the officers overcoat clean from
his back as he thrashed round, dying
The officer was not much hurt. His
heavy winter clothes had saved him
from that. Norris got the skin and
the glory. You would think he would
have kept the skin as trophy, but he
gambled it away within fortnight,
and so it came at last into traders
hands. It's beauty. The tiger was
afull-grown one and not too old to
have the finest sort of skin.
Lions Perseverance.