The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-14


~ has Just arrived In Paris, after a
seven years walking tour OF the
| globe.
He was encamped near the village of
airing. in India, where he met tourist
with whom he was soon on friendly terms,
| and whose bicycle ne borrowed for an
hours spin, the first In two years. Though
the incident happened on December Is, 1896,
this Is its first publication, and the thrill
| ling narrative is given In VI. GiIbert's own
words, In the Wide World magazine, as
| follows:
II left the camp about 1 o'clock in high
giee," he says, "the machine running beau
| tffuliy. After going some little distance 1
suddenly found myself in a delightful open
glade, which was one mass Of verdure and
flowers. Here dismounted from the ma
chine. and. placing 1t against bush, Sc
| lected nice spot on which to rest. Then,
| taking on my hat, l sat down and had
some refreshment. The open space I speak
| of was surrounded on all sides by thick
Jungle AS the afternoon sun was now
streaming down upon my face, sheltered
myself under the shade of Wild banana
| tree. Straight In front Of me there was a
| small water course, in which some pools
Of rain water still remained AS sat there
contemplating the beautiful scenes on every
hand was gradually overcome with sleep.
and, stretching myself out at full length.
i
heard curious sound in the bed of the
water course, as though some animal were
moving
MY friend, the eminent scientist. DR.. 81
raslxy, of Essec, Sclavonia, then pursuing
some Investigations in the Himalayas. had
warned me that my spin was foolhardy. as
tigers had been seen of late in the vicinity
Of the village, and now wished had tax
en- his advice to stay In camp. for felt at
once that the predicted tiger was at hand.
.'Whee the dry. cracking sound reached
my ears l lifted my head and looked to-
ward the spot. Evidently some large ami
NAL was making its way out of the jun
gle. and presently 1t came into sight at
the waters edge. can assure you that
my heart almost ceased to beat. and a
dull. heavy, paralyzing pain appeared to
seize the whole of my body when my
gaze re1ted upon the fierce and wicked
head and long. 1.-THE. striped body Of an
immense tiger-I should judge that he
was about thirty yards from me-
Whether he detected my presence /
cannot say, but he remained motionless
for some time, his majestic head raised,
and his great eyes glistening like phosphor-
escent balls. l think that had he come
toward me at that moment could not
have offered the slightest resistance, being
quite unable to move. Growing little
more collected as the moments sped by.
however, / attempted to nestle in under
the shade of the bush in order to hide
mysef-never, Of course, taking my eyes
from the huge beast before me. It seem-
ed absolutely impossible for me to think
of escaping by means of the bicycle, for
1t was at least twenty yards from me; and
how could 1 possibly reach It and make
my way to the high road without attract
ing the notice of the terrible animal. who
in two or three bounds would be upon me?
My mind was torn with agony as to
~t.<kt1 - xx1I~
dash for the bicycle and life. 1 knew that
once astride the machine in safety could
outdistance the tiger. Then another
thought occurred to mel fancied that IL
remained perfectly still the tiger would
drink and then go into the jungle again.
At one time wondered if he could hear
the humping of my heart-beats. and my
mouth was so parched and my tongue SO
stiff that I was in mortal dread lest
should make some incautious sound. And
I was entirely unarmed. To add to my
terror, imagined that the tiger had not
been satisfied with the result of his pre-
vious nights prowl and SO had come down
to the water in the hope of waylaying adj
ditional prey.
presently saw him drop his beautiful
head and begin to lap the water. As he
raised his head again knew that one
single false movement on my part must
inevitably attract his notice. Following
every movement of the huge monster with
terrible anxiety, I was at length relieved
to see him apparently about to return into
the jungle whence he had come; but, alasl
some little bird moved in the bushes
around me and the effect was instantane-
ous The tiger stopped suddenly and
wheeled round like lightning. his great
eyes fixed intently on the very spot where
lay. He paused for moment, and then,
to my Undesirable horror, commenced to
creep slowly in my direction. As the dead
full creature advanced / saw him carefully
inspecting every branch and leaf in his
way, and squatting like gigantic cat.
Probably by this time he had scented me.
At any rate, after another short pause
he continued to advance upon my hiding
place in the same cautious manner.
presently he got so close that I was
only able to distinguish his movements by
the cracking OF the leaves and twigs as
he crept along. The agony which 1 now
endured grew quite intolerable. Not only
was my heart beating as II 1t would burst.
but my brain felt as though 1t was on
fire. / now felt that my case was quite
hopeless. Nothing / said to myself de-
spairingly, can save me from a dreadful
death And yet-so quickly does the
brain work in such cases-only a mere
fraction of time after these despairing
thoughts conceived the desperate idea OF
making dash for the bicycle! l noticed
that the creeping tiger was at this mo-
y
'Leaping to my feet, fairly hurled my
self In the direction of the bicycle.
threw myself upon it. and with the inn
petus so gained began to glide swiftly
along-even before my feet touched the
pedals-literally racing the tiger for dear
life. The very instant got fairly under
way heard the huge beast make his first
leap in my direction. Notwithstanding
the dreadful emotion which 1 suffered in
that awful moment. my control over the
machine was complete and my movements
sure. At one time it seemed to me as
though ] We're travelling as fast as the
very wind itself; and as the moments sped
by and found myself still intact, a little
confidence was restored to me, and / plod-
ded on with growing hope. The pace was
quite terrific for a time. Needless to say.
was driving the bicycle frantically and
recklessiy.
suddenly the frightfui thought oc-
CURED to me--What Il some part of the