The Meeker herald., 1904-06-11
Hunhng The Cave
Tiger.
You Crawl Into His Parior With
Torch and Pot Him.

There is good hunting in china-cxcit-
| ing enough To suit any sportsman. II Is
| thoroughly sportsmnrlike. also, for II is
au equal contest between the hunter and
Tigers in the chinese hunting country
| are found In caves In rocky territory. The
method Of getting one is simple
| The hunter enters the tigers cave when
| the tiger IL In 1t. and shoots. There are
| no dogs. TO heaters. no aids OF any kind.
save native trackcr holding a torch.
! quickly. to shoot even more quickly when
! you do see him. and not TO miss him when
| A returning American who tried this
| strenuous sport pncc--only onct-was tell
| Ing about his experience the other dny
| This Ii his story of the most exciting
hunting trip he ever took or ever expects
II happened to he near Annoy. not long
after the recent UNDERSTANDINGS in Chi
| ma" he said. land there met a friend
| who Is employed in the Chinese customs
| thought then that l was. Naturally.
| when he showed me several fine tiger
skins and told me that he had sho, ths
about there, / wanted to shoot tiger
myself
| the tigers were found among the caves.
| but didn't raise any serious objection
70 that. hearing that there was little
| jungle about there. You see, didn't
"My friend said ned fix 1t for me-
| When was RD set OIL the tiger shooting
he was ms anxious MS i. He lent me
| rifle. found n native tracker and the next
| morning set of.
I'VE went by boat up the river to the
| tiger country. After an hour or two we
came to spot where the banks were
high and rocky and noneysom5sd with
| ed and my guide began to examine the
| cave mouths for tracks.
| fissurc, he pointed out some marks In the
snnd which he said were the tracks of n
/ tiger. He wasn't satisfied that they were
| fresh, but nevertheless he lit torch and
aThen for the first time realized Just
whit cdn wss up y,, sfsi ins, a,on, like
think I'D have backed out Il could. but
there l was. committed to the enterprise
supin s m myself with he notion that II my
| friend could Kill tigers that way could !
saw that my rifle was properly loaded
| and stepped in front of the trucker.
THE cave widened inside and In the
| floor of clear white sand the tracks were
plainly visible The cave was not large
| though, and there was no tiger inside
4 Being sure of that we went on.
| The guide said 1t was not the regular
haunt OF the tiger. but he occasionally
| knew the cave where that tiger would be-
| He took me to another cave.
There We're many tracks at this one.
! They led into narrow, dark opening
| which you couldn't enter upright. But
the tracker relighted his torch, signed to
I
Again i was ashamed to refuse. /
| went in.
Behind me. blocking the passage. came
| the tracker. with his lighted torch. Just
over my shoulder Cropping on hands and
snses along ,5rs Winding nSe could
Beyond that was inky blackness. More
than .9 On, ! Thought ! saw the Tiers
guide behind prodded me to go on. 1
hnted to. but l went.
We must have penetrated fifteen or
the passage widening and saw that 1t led
into larger cave. ] was Just about TO
this yself that
and move. instead of being cramped on
hands and knees at the mercy OF what
ever there was ahead, when the tracker
seizcd my arm from behind and pointed
over my shoulder into the darkness.
II couldn't see a thing at first and I
the guide raised his torch n little. and
| perceived only II few yards in front OF me
two burning cyeballs. apparently close to
the ground.
ut was a case of acting quickly and
making no mistake: ! raised my rifle.
on the sights. i aimed straight between
the two points of fire and pulled the trlg-
ger.
almost deafened me. AT the same mo-
inent the tracker 1nmmed his torch into
the sand and extinEuished it, leaving US
/ was happening | felt him dragging me
backward through the passage and In a
II asked the man what was to be our
next move. I didn't tell him so. but 1
was determined on one thing. Nothing
with possibly only wounded tiger In It.
However. the man was jubilant. He
declared that had I'D Killed ~ the beast, How
Imagine and he didn't explain.
| Now, | was by no meas sure that
had hit the tiger at ALL but s..'er reiight-
ing the torch the native said there ::ss no
| danger and he was going In 20 see. fiS
went. l stayed outside ard registered a
mental vow that nothing should ever per-
suade me to SO tempt Providence again.
The man came out again after what
seemed to me an interminable Interval.
anil lie was beaming with joy. He said
that the tiger was. stone dead. shot
through the brain. Then he went to fetch
the two boatmen to help us haul the
we did It by, tying a rope around tho
body and the three of pulling on 1t.
while the fourth guided the weight over
| the rough spots. 1t took an hour OF haul
Ing to do 1t.
very large size, but In excellent condition,
with a beautifully marked skin. By aft
ernoon we had that on and were on our
Now. my friend assured me later that
tiger hunting OF that sort was as safe as
a sSr after these cave tigers tha.
he had taken part in. he said. he had
never known a mischance. The tiger.
| whether missed or not. never charged
Whether the light and its sudden extln-
gushing confused him or not he didn't
know but no accident ever occurred.
.It NAV be true" concluded the man
who had tried it once. but I'm all In on
that sport. Never again for me"-New
| York Sun.
Coin. witch HAD Their Day.
Recent mention of the disappearance of
the $3.50 gold piece from circulation and
| cllrio has set many to rummagins In old
| pockctbooks and the bottoms of cashboxes
| and drawers In search OF odd or out-of-
| sInta rnins Some have found a 70 20