The Press., 1898-06-16
A MAN TIGER.
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.

We were encamped on the banks of the Chumbul river, on the east side of the Chittore hills, India. It was a gov ernment party, in charge of Captain Jordan, a military engineer. The object was to see if the river could be tapped and & canal constructed to run the wa ters across the flat country to the east for irrigation purposes. There were two English soldiers and a party of 20 na- tives detailed with the captain, and two English officers and myself were with the survey as volunteers. This meant a surveying and hunting party combined. There was plenty of game in the Chit tore hills, and Captain Jordan was 8 veteran hunter as we'll as a prominent enigneer.
 We had not yet got settled in camp when the natives appeared to tell us some queer stories regarding a tiger which had lately made his appearance in the neighborhood. In the first place. he was of astonishing size. No one had ever seen his like. In the next, as they declared, be had more the face of hu- man being than of a tiger. Again, he had been encountered, face to face, by several natives, but instead of attacking them had contented himself with look and then walked of. On one occasion he had entered village and stealthily approached an old man who was cook ing his supper at a fire. His presence was not discovered until he rubbed his nose against the old mans shoulder and emitted sound like the purring of d cat. Dumb and helpless with terror, the kol tn ho otta0lxo6 hfIf after walking around the fire two or three times the beast went off into the thick et This old man stoutly declared that the tiger had the face of man and that it seemed to desire speech with him. The beast had been roaming about for three weeks when we got there, but in all that time had not attacked a na- tive nor killed an animal belonging to the villagers.
 The natives of India are not only su- perstitious to the last degree, but given to the grossest exaggeration in all their statements, and their declarations in this case were taken with many grains of allowance. AS a rule they are very anxious to get rid of their dangerous neighbors, but in this case they be- sought us not to harm the tiger. The soul of some good man, native or white, had taken possession of the beast, and for that reason he had spared the viii lagers and should be spared in turn. To kill him would be sacrilege, and in re- venge a man eater would be sent to de- populate the village.
 It was four days after the natives had come in before we got sight of the man tiger. Captain Jordan had begun his preliminary work, and one day when he was on the bank of the river, half a mile below camp, took my gun to join him and get a shot at some wild swans which had passed down the stream. Thus far we had hunted only small game and had heard nothing further from the tiger. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky, and the weather was hot, and knew enough of the tiger S habits to be sure that he would be lying up in some cool spot during the heat of the day. I heard the captain shouting to his assistants long before I got to him. They had crossed the river on a raft, and he was alone. Just before I reached him 1 struck into a path used | by the wild animals as they came down from the hills to drink. Forty feet away I caught sight of the officer standing be- hind his surveying instrument, and at the same instant my eyes fell upon a tiger creeping along the path between us. For a few seconds believed the creature to be a dog Then as I fully realized what it was and that he was stalking the unsuspecting man was so unnerved that I stood stock still and gazed at him. I had only shotgun, loaded with swan shot, but the actions of the beast were so singular that for. got I was armed at all. While contin- ued gazing at him he crept forward to