The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1899-08-09
Here the colonel stopped for anothe

eS, SIT, S1W ECI. Sue w DIS SIeG1uS
with the baby in her lap in the tonga
pale-I have never seen such an ex-
preston Of strained terror on any hu-
man countenance. The bilewallah was
in front, trying to keep the bullocks,
which seemed almost frantic with fear,
to the path. I knew the man well-one
of the best hands with team at the
station-but just then his face was so
distorted with fright that 1 hardly rec
ognized him. You know that lilac gray
ism tinge a natives face gets when he is
scared almost to DEATH
81 know, know broke in Sir AL
an. "But what was the matter. What
was frightening them? Could you see
anything?''
Indeed + could. replied the colonel.
"Cause enough they had. Not five
yards behind them trotted the largest
tiger it has ever been my fortune to
see. -
Various ordinations testified to the
completeness of the surprise to which
Colonel Eyre had treated his audience.
'sWas it a man eater?' asked.
cat first I supposed it was, but if it
had been I never should have seen them
alive. After I shot the beast''-
ooh, you did shoot him."
''Don't ask me how! I am counted a
fair shot was far better then-but
wnen I leveled my rife at that brute's
t.o-x ,-l,o,, r -o,l:yo1 how ,,,rol, bnnc
on the result-for if 1 had missed, Or if
Ihad merely wounded him, he would
have been in the tonga at a single
spring, and nothing under heaven itself
could have saved those dearest to me
from horrible death-when I realized
all this, don't know how found the
nerve to pull the trigger. I suppose l
knew it was the only chance. Ny ap-
pearance had enraged the animal, and
he was just preparing to spring. This
do know, and Pm not ashamed to own
it: When I saw that I had laid the
tiger out with single shot, thing
that doesn't happen twice in alifetime,
I fell fat beside the tonga in the act Of
helping my wife down; for the first and
last time in my life tainted.
eyes, it was pretty hard trial on
the nerves. resumed the colonel, as
our discussion of the situation sank into
silence, "but nothing to what my wife
had gone through. That tiger had fol-
lowed them for more than four miles
through the jungle. The bilewallah,
with rare presence of mind, had man.
aged to keep the bullocks to their steady
jog trot, any increase OF pace or appear
ance Of fight would have provoked a
spring. She, poor woman, had succeed
ed in hushing her baby, for had the
child cried nothing is surer than that
the sound would have led to an attack.
It must have been an awful four miles
for her. It was years before she recover
ed from the effect.
"And why did not the tiger attack
them?'' inquired Jones. "Does any one
know?''
"The animal was doubtless waiting
to kill them till they got into the vlcin-
ity of water,'' explained Colonel Eyre.
.NTigers often do that with cattle and
other large quarry. There was water a
mile or less farther on. I had noticed
it myself in passing. If had not come
upon the ground, another ten minutes
would have sealed their fate. :"
"So it may fairly be said that your
dream was the means Of saving their
lives,'' observed Tom Everton, who, al
though the most silent, had not been the
least attentive Of the listeners.
81 think we may fairly admit SO
much" replied Colonel Eyre. IF it
had not been for my dream, do not
think the report of the man eater would
have brought NE back. On the other
hand, but for hearing about the man
eater and actually being awakened by
the roar Of a tiger, I an, not sure that
the dream would have had weight
enough with me to induce me to leave
detachment on the march-a serious
thing, gentlemen, as some of you who
are soldiers know well enough. -
"It's very curious circumstance,
certainly observed Sir Alan, and then
there was a pause.
But see here, colonel, Tom broke in
again, "the dream, if a warning at all.
was warning of danger to you, your
self, and though you certainly heard
Mrs. Eyre's voice calling to you, yet it
was urging you to save yourself and
not summoning you to her assistance. y
''That is very true, and it puzzled me
at the time. But, as argued, it is Won
derful enough to get a warning of dan
ger in the future at all. You must not
expect to have it spelled out to you in
large print Now, as to this dream OF
Mrs. Everton Sit prefgures danger to
you, as understands
'FYou must go to Mrs. Everton her
self for the details All that remember
is that she saw me lying drowned IN
the Balmaquidder and read the vision
as warning that some accident would
befall me if joined the shooting party
tomorrow. But, by the light of your ex-
perience, it would seem the danger Is
to her, not to me. %
ll,.S