Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-05-27

somehow she must be saved. With my
eyes l measured the window through
which / leaned. 1t was small, but not
too small to prevent the passage OF my
body. If l could leap down to the floor
of the gun room, only ten or twelve fees
below, should alight behind the tiger.
l drew myself upward until l knelt,
crouching down, on the sill; and then,
with a dizzying vision under my eyes Of
slow, striped and tawny length crawl
ing across the floor Git would have Ia
BILE to cross or skirt round before it could
reach Miss Hope, / dropped my feet over
and let myself go.
For an instant the shock half stunned
me. A myriad of stars seemed TO fall in
| a cataract out of the darkness, and the
roaring Of the cataract was in my ears.
1t was not so much of a jump-ten or a
dozen feet-if / could have taken it in
the right way; but / had fallen anyhow,
actuated solely by the desire to drop, in
what manner it mattered little, yet in
less time than is occupied in telling / had
| staggered to my knees and would have
been on my feet had not had to reckon
with the tiger.
| There had been a sharp cry from Miss
Hope, but when / would have looked
for her through the falling stars the room
was blotted out by the dark shape that
had whirled and doomed over me. A curl
Gus pungent stencil was in my nostrils,
and, with a blind impulse bidding me
| clutch at the creatures throat, in the in
stinctive desire for self-preservation
which never quite leaves us, j went down
again under the blows Of the great sledge-
hammer paws.
There was a grinding pain in my arms
and shoulders, a sense of sitting under
hot, ill-smelling fur, rebellious, though
scarcely terrified, knowledge that this
moment would be my last on earth, that
l was graphing with death in grimmest
form, and being overmastered by it.
That was ALL And in the midst came
shot, fred so close at hand as to be deaf
ening, squirt of thick, warm blood over
my face and a yell of mortal anguish.
| Blood-not my own-dripped over my
| eyes, and l dashed it away with the one
hand 1 could lift. My left hung helpless,
and for the moment life seemed far away
and utterly undesirable.
Then l felt her soft fingers grasp my
arm with all the will, if not the power, to
bring me to my feet again, and the sight
Of her face so near my own, the sound
of her painting breath in my ear, gave me
new strength and inspiration.
Thank heaven! Thank heavenr' she
was crying.
l dragged myself up from the floor, but
could not stand, and, Keeling back, /
leaned against the table, my breath COM
| ing in hoarse sobs. Something I had
stumbled against as l staggered across
the floor. And now l saw that it was a
gun, still smoking.
The tiger lay still, supine mass,
stretched out at length, half on its back,
the soft fur dabbled with the blood in
which it would wallow no more
Il have killed itp' she said. I'VE are
saved! But, oh, the horror of itp'
Don't think of it--don't lookr' pant
ed, scarce knowing yet what ! said, feel
ing still in Imagination, and the throb-
bling of torn muscles, the death-grip of
the tiger on my body. You saved my
life with magnificent courage, and-and-
L"
and you? 1t was you who saved mine.
But, o Mr.. Darkmore, it's over now! The
strength has gone out of me. Will no one
ever come and-take that awful thing
away? l must look; l can't help it. And
I'm so deadly, deadly sickr'
/ sprang forward forgetting my weak
ness and my pain. On my right arm,
which was uninjured / caught and held
her up. She lay against my breast, her
exquisite body soft and pathetically yield
ing in Inconsistencies, and l felt my
strength coming back to me with rush
of fire through my veins.
Then there were sounds on the stairs
and in the hall outside, with loud rat
Ting of that door of the gun room which
opened into the passage.
For the love of heaven, what's hap
pened here" Sir Thomas bluff voice was
exclaiming. "Whoever's in there, unlock
the door,
II can't get to itr' ! cried in return.
Come round to the door on the lawn
Ash shouted my answer, felt a deli
cate thrilling and stirring of the girls
body in my arms, and faint sigh told
me that her senses were returning.
They've come-at last" she murmur-
ed. "But-but she had locked the door
ON the outside,"
Locked the door on the outsider"
asked, in amaze. "Who could have done
such thingg"
/
.Tell them not to be alarmed" l re-
piled TO Sir Thomas questioning, hearing
the terrified voices of women in the dis
lance. Miss Hope has-killed the tiger
that's all, thank heavenF'
There was 4 general outburst of excla-
nations, but no one cared TO stop for
more inquiries. The obvious thing TO do
was to take my advice, and satisfy all
curiosity by coming to us as speedily as
possible through the other door, a few
moments later we could hear the soft pat
ter OF feet as they ran over the frozen
lawn. and then the gun room was invad-
ed by the men of the house and several
servants in various stages OF deshabille.
Everybody in the house had fathered
in the smoking room, with only two abb
sentees-Paula and the invalid Jerome.
One of the grooms had been sent off
post-haste to the village, mile away, for
surgeon to dress my wounded shoulder.
There seemed a strange fascination for
them all in asking the same questions
over again, and receiving the same an
swers.
Feverishly ready to talk as Miss Hope
had apparently become at last, there was
still one portion Of the engrossing subject
on which she remained oddly reticent,
/ and this led me to think thar her volu-
bility on all others had in it a certain
method.
She evaded inquiries as to how she had
happened TO 90 into the gun room. trying
10 make it appear that she had seen the
freight, and CHANGED TO wander in for a
moment before going upstairs TO her
! room
Then" she hurried on. as though to
make the listeners forget that her expla-
nStion had been unsatisfactory. Il walk
ed over to the fire. and. as stood look
ing into it, | heard a noise al the other
end Of the room. something Ike the nur-
ring Of an enormous cat. l turned my
head. and saw a pair OF big eyes glariug
al me. II wasn't long before knew just
what was there; thEt it must have crept
in through the open door on the lawn be-
fore l came into the room. Suddenly
heard a CREST crash. saw that a man had