The new South-news., 1907-07-20

Bowman Livingston had been back
from India only a week. yet the fell
lows at the Colonial Club. amone
whom he used to bask in an atmos-
phere OF high regard. were already
commencing to look uneasy when he
began-no: not began: resumed his
interminable stories about tiger hunt
ing.
II is not given to every man who
carries big guns TO India to bring
down three fine tigers, and everybody
felt that Livingston should be al
lowed little pardonable swagrer.
but 1t Is wearisome 10 have to follow
through dinner after dinner an en-
thusiasts long tale about howdahs
and shikaris and dak bungalows and
all the Hindustanee rest of it. So IL
was with gratitude that we all list
ened to the interruption of Lieuten-
ant de la Roche when he told a tale
that stopped poor Livingston's tiger
"reminiscences forever. Our buoyant
friend was laying down the law that
the tiger takes to man eating only
when he is too aged and decrepit TO
hunt wild animals. De Ia Roche. a
dry, brown little fellow late of the
French army in Tonquin, begged his
pardon most elaborately, and said:
Il know you will believe that am
not animated by a spirit of captious
contradiction when / tell you of my
experience to the contrary. The incl
dent was SO awful that | am reiuc-
tant to speak of It. | assure you that
every time | hear or read the word
tiger the air about me seems to Vi
brate with the shrieks that | shall
never forget.
was leading a surveying expe-
dition last year over the Pou Cha
Hong Mountains. on the way into
~ ~ ~ss>>e4 we suddenly fourl.f -uur.-
selves menaced by horde of tigers
Nothing | had ever heard prepared
me for such a siege as this. In the
daytime we could see the huge. si-
lent, black-and-yellow beasts sinking
through the bush not far from our
column. They never came near
enough to attack us in force. but they
trotted and walked watchfully along
course parallel with ours, and
seemed to be always waiting for a
chance to pounce upon any strag-
gler. You may believe that we ad
vanced with absolutely unbroken
unity
Il had always believed that the
tiger is solitary creature, that hunts
alone, or, at most. in pairs But here
they were actually stalking us in
numbers-we often saw as many as
seven or eight at one time. Although
they only menaced us at long range
In the day, the tigers were very dan
gerous at close range after night
fall. Under the advice OF our tai
pan, or head man. ! made the camp
very compact, and always ended the
days march at least one hour before
the brief twilight. Then we built
ring OF camp-fires around our stop
ping place to keep the tigers away.
You Americans have heard of the aw-
ful temperature in the Philippines.
Believe me it is still hotter and more
moist in Tonquin. Add to that the
warmth from the campfires, and YOU
snail derive from the sum total soifie
idea OF the awful heat we had TO
undergo every night. The air was
sitting. We slept very little, and
then only ftfully.
One night, as we were doing in
side our ring of fire in the Wang
Hoa Forest, we were aroused by the
cries OF human beings in awful dis
tress. Ny friends. | have heard at
the opera and in the theatre sounds
which represented the sounds OF .
many souls In agony, but never have |
Il listened to such shrieks as those.
)nnQum Der of voices seemed to be
There could oe no doubt of |
xremity OF the people.