Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1898-01-13

lTOu4 LuC mOLu0uC Lue Tiger lcdQeu on
me felt no pain from teeth or claws.
Neither did I, after once the brute had
seized me, feel any keen sense of fear,
although perfectly conscious of all that
was going on and of what seemed the
certainty that I should be immediate
ly killed. Perhaps the best expression
of my condition while 1 was in the
tigers power would be to say that l
was in hypnotic state, for can COM
pare my sensation with nothing else.
1.-THE tiger ran perhaps fifty yards,
then stopped, laid me down and
crouched, watching me. Presently he
picked me up again and started on
through the jungle, this time walking,
bearing me along with my legs drag
ging upon the ground. Coming to an
open space he laid me down, and, back
ing away for distance of two or three
yards, lay crouched, watching me in
tently, after the manner of cat that
plays with mouse.
From the position in which lay I
could look straight into his yellow eyes
and could see the curling in and out of
the tip Of the supple tail. Then as with
every second I expected the tiger to
leap upon me and tear me, there crash
ed in the jungle's stiffness the loud re-
port of gun, close at hand. l saw the
tiger leap to his feet. whirl toward the
sound, and he roared once as he rear
ed himself almost upright on his hind
legs; then fell over on his side strug-
Cling.
1T was from the old firelock that
had set in order that morning-the
East Indian company musket of Dassa
Balhua that the shot had come which
saved my life. The shikari had found
the path the tiger was accustomed to
take in going from his den to the near
est water course to drink. In thick
leaved tree overlooking this path he
had built platform, and from this he
had watched daily for chance to shoot
at the brute. Waiting here this day
he saw the tiger come into view from
an unexpected quarter dragging me
along by the shoulder. When he saw
the tiger drop me in the open space and
lay himself down at little distance
away, the shikari fired at him, aiming
| at the head, for he knew that if not
killed the first act of the brute would
be to kill me. The tiger, struck in the
ear by the heavy bullet, died almost in
his tracks.
| after the shot was fired 1 lay still,
not feeling sure that the tiger was real
ly done for, until I saw Dassa Balhua
come toward me from the tree. When
| lifted my head the shikari was
startled for he had thought that 1 was
dead. But he came to me and lifted
me by the shoulders so that by turn
ing my head 1 could see the tiger lying
stretched on his side.
"'He can trouble you no more, sab
ill., said the shikari. The tiger is
dead
"The shikari opened my jacket and
examined my wounds, and then went
down to the road to intercept my SER
wants. BY the time he came back with
them my wounds were getting painful.
While one of the servants rode to the
nearest bungalow for men and litter,
I lay watching the shilari skin the
tiger. 1t was young animal, full
grown, with glossy, beautifully
marked skin, and terrible teeth and
claws. With the skin and the govern
ment bounty and the hundred rupees
that l gave him, Dassa Balhua had no
reason to complain of his days fortune.
I was taken out of the jungle that
night, and to my home the next day.
had bad shoulder, with fever, that
kept me laid up for three or four weeks
and 1 did not regain the full use of my
right arm for years. But I think
got off WE'LL