The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-03-26


 wants to take a day of. His son is quite as competent to manage Piyari as he is. Frampton makes no objection, so, all being ready. We file out of camp. and he waves us ''good-by'' and sits down to his work.
 About three miles from camp we get into a likely looking bit of grass. so I form the elephants into line. four on each side of Piyara, and we move slowly through it. Partridge and jun gle fowl begin to get up. and two or three brace are picked up before We have gone very far. Then the boy. An med Khan, points with outstretehed finger where the moving grass shows that ssme animal is passing swiftly through it, and says softly ''Dekho, sahibl jarwarl" (''See, sir, an ami mall') I imagine it is a hogdeer, though see no horns. I put down my gun and take up my rifle and just for @ second catching glimpse of some thing yellowish, barly 40 yards away. I pitched up the weapon and fire. To my amazement the,shot is answered by a loud roar of rage and pain, and hube tiger bounds forward, showing himself clearly as he springs through the grass. I gave him the second bar rel on the instant, but missed him in style and with fierce coughing growls he disappears into some heavy cover some distance ahead.
 Mrs. Frampton is the first to speak. "Oh, what luckl she says. Wont George be dusgusted that he wasn't with us? Wasn't he a beauty" He was indeed" I answer, but we have not got him yeti" No but we soon will have him." she replies. He was bad ly hit by that shot of yours and we can soon beat him out of that grass" That's true, but as soon as the first ex- citement has a little subsided, reflect that, pluclkly as Mrs. Frampton is-I did not know until later how plucky- I would rather she was not in my how dah while we are beating up wound ed tiger. And then. how about the boy Ahmed Khan? Is he to be trusted2 Driving for hares and cartridges is one thing; beating up wounded tiger is another. So, we hold council of war, Ahmed Khan is very indignant that we should suppose for moment that he is not to be trusted. The other mah- outs support him. They know that a liberal distribution of bakshish will fol- low the death of tiger Mrs. Tramp ton is urgent in her implorings that we should follow up the animal at once, so l. as anxious as she is to take the splendid chance thrown in our way, and not dreaming that an accident is possible, give my consent. The line of a1a fc ;e fr1,, md i'm cr every one, particularly the boy, Ah- med, to be steady, we move forward
 It does not take us many minutes to reach the spot where we have last seen the tiger. Hardly have we en- tered the grass at this point when with wough! wough.. wough. he charges straight at Piyari I am using a light .450 express rifle, and 1 hit him with the first barrel fair and square in the chest, but 1t does not stop him. And then, before 1 can fire again, an aw- full thing happens. Ahmed Khan loses his head and turns Piyari round! The next instant, with a bloodeurdling roar, the tiger makes desperate spring, and lands on the elephants back, just behind the howdah. Trumpeting shril- ly with fear and pair (forshe feels his sharp claws), and curling her trunk high over her head. Piyari, the hitherto invincible and fearless one, boltsi
 Reader, have you ever been on a runaway elephant? It is an experi- ence, I promise you, and makes you think of thingsl For the time being the hube beast, ordinarily so docile and tractable, is absolutely bereft of its senses, and amenable to no persuasion or authority. It rushes blindly across country, smashing or trampling down whatever 1t may encounter If its mad career takes 1t through forest the dan ger is really great as the howdah and it's occupants are pretty sure to be swept into space by overhanging branches. Fortunately, we were in grass jungle. There were very few trees about. But the mere jolting and pitch ing caused by the unwielding animals terrified flight made 1t very difficult to avoid being flung out of the howdah. Mrs. Frampton was safe enough for the moment as far as the tiger was con cerned, for it was all the brute could do to hold on himself during this wild ride; but l was in terror lest she should be thrown out. I called out to her en- couragingly to Hold tight!' She ans wered bravely, I'm all right. Don't mind mel" but had hardly spoken when with a sickening lurch the howdah swung over to an angle of 45 degrees, and with a gasping little shriek out she vent Almost immediately after ward the tiger, unable any longer to maintain his precarious hold, dropped off too! And stil 1 Siyari urged her headlong course! My feelings at this moment may be imagined, but cannot be described. It was only by a su- preme effort that I had saved myself when the howdah lurched, and now I was clinging on with both hands like drowning mariner to hen-coop. What had happened to Mrs. Frampton? Was she mained or killed by the fall? or-horrible thought. attacked and mangled by the tiger? I was frantic >as I thought of these things, and felt her aid. In vain did Ahmed Khan beat Piyari on the head with the heavy iron ankus (goad) and command her to stop. He might as we'll have whacked the side of an ironclad with a drumstick, and ordered the wind to cease from blowing. Still, even a frightened elephant cannot keep run ming foreven, and by the time we had covered another mile, over desperately l bad ground she slowed down to a walk, and at last we stopped her. ]