The Forrest City times., 1899-02-03

INTO his arms and looked into it's grave
brown eyes.
Suddenly it gave a chatter of fear,
leaped from his arms to his shoulder.
and seemed on the point of springing to
the shrouds and racing back to its form
er position.
Wondering what had frightened it,
Sid turned TO the deck. What he saw
gave him such a start that he almost
let SO his hold. A big tiger had emerged
from the forward companionway and
stood looking up at him, its eyes blazing
and its tail waving snaky threat. An
exclamation of surprise and alarm came
from Sid Holly's lips, and the monkey
gain chartered in fear. This was an
swered by a deep growl from the tigers
c~vernous throat, and by an advance to
| cardboard which brought it between
I'd and his boat.
The appearance of the tiger on the
deck was so strange and apparently so
inexplicable that Sid Holly might readi-
ly have been excused for thinking this
the improbable experience of dream.
Later, he knew that the Java had
brought the tiger and several other wild
beasts in cages from an Indian port.
consigned to a circus firm in Bridge
port. The storm had blown the Java
out OF her course and to the northward.
lie learned, too, that when the boats
were ready to pull away from the
doomed ship some tender hearted mem
ber of the crew had slipped the oars Of
the cages. with the result that most Of
the released animals. frightened by the
FIRE, had Immediately leaped into the
sea and had been drowned As for the
monkey, it had been abandoned simply
because it obstinately remained in the
rigging, perhaps through fright, and
refused TO be caught.
Sid Holly's hands shook on the rat
lines and his heart chilled as he saw the
tiger cross the deck in tha: threatening
manner; and when he thought of the
vessels sinking state. and glanced from
the smoking forecastle into the sea, his
brain fairly reeled.
With the ship surely settling under
him, held in the rigging by that fierce
beast, afraid to leap into the sea, hi.
situation was one to unnerve the stout
est heart.
The little boat bumped its nose
against the vessels side. Then a big
wave heaved the ship aloft. She fell
heavily into the trough, with a water
logged roll that made Sii's heart rise
in his throat.
His scared exclamation as he thought
the ship was surely going down, the
tiger answered with another growl
This growl apparently caused the mon
key to abandon its idea of springing z
into the rigging; for. with an almost
human murmur Of fear. II sought to
cuddle in Sid's arms for protection. He
put hand. albeit shaking one, caress-
ingly on its head.
The tiger, ominous as had been it's
growl. did not appear to want to force
a fight. 1t did not come nearer. It,
too, was frightened by the strangeness
Of its position and the waste of tum-
bling water.
1t approached the rail and looked
down into the little boat. Though this
was done without any apparent inten-
ton of springing into the boat. tie
movement gave Sid another thrill OF
fear With the tigers head touching
the rail just over the boat. Sid's chances
OF escaping from the sinking ship
seemed slenderer than ever.
The ship dropped again into a trough
with threatening lurch, after the
passage of a big wave. Some ropes
noisily SLATED, and the yards groaned
as II they felt the pangs of the vessels
approaching dissolution. The tiger
balanced and shifted on i.s big feet, its
claws suggestively rattling on the hard
boards of the deck, but i. did not ma
teriaily change its position. Now and
then it cast a questioning, suspicious
glance at the boy in the mizzen shrouds.
but for the most part it kept its yellow
eyes fixed in apparent despair on tn.
sea.
After the first shock Of fear had
passed Sid tried to calm himself that he
might consider his situation. His only
hope seemed to be to get the tiger away
from the starboard rail- II he could do
that he might reach the boat by cour
ageous dash, or by springing into the
sea he might gain the boat by swim
ming, even though he was not very
good swimmer. To remain in the rig
ging until the ship went down was to
go down with it.
To ascertain what the tiger would
do he descended a few feet, holding the
shivering monkey tightly against his
breast. The tiger instantly noticed and
resented the movement. Its lips drew
back from its white teeth in a snarl,
and it took a step in Sid'S direction.
Its attitude was so threatening that the
boy stopped short, with terror again
tugging at his heart.
But fear of the nav OF the sea soon
drove him downward.
This threw the tiger into rage. 1t
came nearer. Looking up at him with
its blazing yellow eyes. it crouched
within springing distance of the
shrouds. Its black and yellow bands