The Florida agriculturist., 1907-07-03
TOMMY AND THE TIGER.

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The boy opened his book at the
right place and was soon lost in the
fascinating pages.
Presently he looked up. A con-
fused murmur of voices drew his at
tention A number of men and boys
we're coming up the hill The crowd
was led by man in light wagon
who was driving glossy black horse.
Tommy closed the book and ran
down the walk to the gate in the
hedge. The party had halted in the
roadway The man with the black
horse was standing up and looking
about the fields He had very black
eyes and huge black hat and
fierce black mustache.
"She1l sneak for the woods the first
thing" he said, and he pointed
ahead to the grove a half mile away.
"We've got to surround her an drive
her in. An now you fellows listen
to me-more especially you fellows
with the guns there. I wouldn't give
a tinker's tuppence for the tiger dead,
but I'll hand any man that lands her
alive an kickin' in the highway here,
a hundred dollars cash on tn nail
An to all those who want to help me
git her I'll give choice reserved seat
for tn show tonight. But look here
she's likely to be as ugly as sin
an you want to keen sharp lookout.
Come on"
The man had queer looking whip
in his hand and he shook it in the air
as he spoke. Tt was a short whip
with a thick lash, and in the box of
the wagon Tommy noticed a coi1ed
rope.
The party swept along at a good
pace, the black-mustached man lead
ing, and presently they disappeared
behind the turn in the road bv the
old culvert
Tommy slowly returned to the
porch, but his mind was too excited
to permit him to resume his reading.
He understood that tiger had es-
capped from the circus and was now
roaming about the woods beoynd
Sam Hilburn's farm. How he would
have liked to join the hunting party!
But to leave the house-and perhaps
the black-mustached man wouldn't
let him come. He didn't see any
small boys in the party. Anyway,
he'd have something fine to tell the
folks about when they came home.
He stood on tiptoe and looked over
toward the woods. There was no.
thing unusual to be seen.
Then he suddenly realized that he
was hungry. He went into the house
and looked at the kitchen clock. It
was Just 12. Then he sat down and
ate his bread and milk When he had
finished the milk there was still some
bread left, and his hunger wasn't
quite satisfied There was plenty of
milk in the cellar and he took the
pitcher and went down the stairs.
The double doors that led to the
yard were both open and the roomy
cellar was fairly light. But there
were dark corners in the forward
part, under the big sitting room. and
as he drew forward an old chair on
which he meant to stand in order to
reach the swinging shelf, something
queer in the darkest corner attracted
his attention. He saw two small,
yellow-green lights there, few inch
es apart and as he stared at them
thew seemed to move slightly.
Tommy stood very still. His heart
was humping hard. He wanted to
turn and rush up the stairway. Then
he remembered his fathers words:
"Tom's a little man. Nothing can
frighten him."
The green lights moved again, and
something back in the darkness pur-
red softly. Those lights were too big
for the ewes of a cat, and no cat ever