Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-11-07
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
Trapping a Tiger.
BY NJ. Quad.



traveller seeking rest and refreshment
turns into one of The free bungalows
provided by the government. lie finds
cooking utensils. dishes and bunk,
and there is generally Il native care
takcr. The rule of the road is that no
traveller stops longer than over night
except in case OF sickness OF accident.
Few OF the bungalows have doors or
windows. and unless in the height of
the rainy season no blankets are hun:
up at the openings.
1t was in bungalow ON the highway
between the towns of Ramporc anG
Bagrah, III The province of Bengal, that
Sir Edward Potter. an English tourist
doing India. met a tragic fate. \ party
OF six had arrived at the bungalow an
hour before dark When supper had
been prepared and eaten. the gentle
men smoked and chatted for Il couple
OF hours and then lay down ON the We
randa To sleep-that is. five of them did,
while Sir Edward had a bed made up
for him in the large room. The near
est jungle was Il mile away. aud as the
grounds had been beaten over FOR ser
penis no one felt any fears aS lie made
ready for sleep. II was Il starlight
night. with everything quiet. and all
the party fell into u sound sleep. They
were awakened at midnight OF Il little
later by Il shrek for help. and "a they
got To their feet they beheld an enor-
nous tiger trotting Off with Sir Ed
ward i'm his Sriv.
The tiger had stolen out OF the near
est cover and taken thorough survey
Al
tim. Any one of the five Slecpers Of
fered him an easy victim. bur lie pass
ell them by He made his way between
Two of them and entered the room by
window and seized Sir Edward 10y the
shoulder. The shouts of the others did
not rattle the beast in the least. With
Il twist Of his head he threw the man
over on his back ami went of at u lei
surely pace. and lie WAS neither fired
on nor pursued No one dared shoot
for fear of killing the man. and la have
pursued the tiger into the jungle would
have been foOli>hneSS. As none of ;hc
party was a tiger hunter. there WAS
nothing 10 do but resume their journey
and give notice at the next post az
what had occurred. They had scarcely
left the bungalow when Il man named
Reed arrived there. He was an Amer
lean and what the English call a cute
Yankee" He had gone out 10 India
from New York after tiger skins. In
stead OF taking rifles and cartridges he
had taken beartrapS. Landing in Cal
cutta with no less than two dozen mon
ster steel traps, lie was making his way
up TO the tiger country 10 do business.
He wasn't blowing his horn very much.
as lie knew that every Englishman in
India would look upon him with con
tempt. but as there was no law against
trapping tigers he meant 10 send home
a shipload of skins If lie could.
Reed had no sooner heard of the
tragedy of the night before than he
baited his trap for his first tiger. He
traced the beast into the jungle for
200 yards and then set one OF his traps
on Il path and baited it by tying Kid
to a stake just in the rear of it. This
was done early i'm the morning. but
with no hope that the tiger would
leave his lair until late i'll the evening.
He did leave il, however. much earlier
than that. Strangely enough. he con-
tented himself with sinking his fanGs
into Sir Edward and killing him. but
did not rutiIatc the body in the slight
est. The bleating of the kid called him
from his lair about 3 o'clock in the aft
ernoon, and at that same hour the bear
trap man went forth TO see if his trap
was all right. As lie was advancing
along the path in one direction the tiger
was coming up from another. aud the
result was that as Reed halted within
five feet of the bleating and frightened
kid the tiger looked him in the eyes
from a distance OF about forty feet.
Both stood still and stared for a min
ute. Reed had a rife, but he was poor
shot and dared not take the risk of fir
ing. The tiger was no doubt astonish
ed and puzzled. and perhaps n yell
would have frightened him of, but as
DO yell came he began to work up his
temper. For two or three minutes he
switched his tail and growled and then
of a sudden rose in the air like bird.
He had divided the forty feet into two
leaps, but the second was never made.
As he touched the earth after his first
he fell upon the pan of the trap, and
the Jaws closed around both forelegs.
The trap was secured by a chain
stout enough 10 draw Il Sawlog, bat
caught as lie wasthc beast soon broke
the chain and went OFF into the jungle
with the trap. 1t was while he WAS be-
ing followed that the body of Sir Ed
ward was found. 1t seems hardly cred
ible. but that tiger gave Reed and his
native assistants a two days hunt. He
dragged the monster trap through
thickets and up hillsides and across
ground where a man could hardly
make his way. and when finally come
up with and killed he had trayefsed a
distance of eighteen miles and had bit
ten one of his legs Off in hopes TO get
clear of the trap. Not only that, but
an hour before he was come up with
and finished off. the beast, fettered as :
he was and covered with his own blood.
hobbled into u small village and tried