The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-06-21


numbering on the yeranda-queer sort
! OF niger; never saw anything like him
before or since-good deal Of Bhil in
him, | think, writes Francis Campbell
in the Westminster Gazette. Anyhow,
he came to ask me If I'd so and shoot
man eater than had afflicted his viii
lage for two months and carried off
twenty persons, the last two being his
own wife and his sister. He was the
headsman of the village. He had
come himself to make quite sure OF the
sahib's hearing all about it. 1t was a
great tiger-very great and powerful
not old or NANCY, he would answer
for it. He had seen the tiger when 1t
carried off his wife.
And all the while he talked he kept
folding the ends of a piece of muslin
he wore across his body like scarf
frayed, torn piece of stuff, just the
color of wallfoWer, brownish red.
''Fifteen little ones and five women
hath this tiger killed out of my peo-
pie" he said will my lord come and
slay it?" Well, | said, I'd have a try,
making up my mind, for all he said,
that it was both ancient and NANCY
Tigers don't take to man eating till
they've lost their teeth. However,
this particular beast seemed to come
it rather strong, and thought I'd like
to pot him | got leave and we went
off together, the man showing me the
way.
l soon spotted the fact that he was
mad-mad as a halter. Ii the tiger
had taken his wife it had also taken
his brains; he was a bit creepy as a
travelling companion, and the oldest
part Of his lunacy was to be forever
caressing that torn muslin thing he
wore-kissing it and stroking it and
talking to it as if the thing under
stood-and all about MY Lord the
Tiger" and the sudden destruction that
was coming on him. When we got TO
the village | didn't wonder he was
dotty.
He had been married only week
and the wife was, according to the viii
1age, a speckless beauty. They had
been promised to each other from
childhood and it had taken him nearly
all his life to save enough to buy her
pretty hard luck The tiger came on
them as they were drawing water
came out Of the jungle behind them
and took the woman. The lunatic had
pursued it till brought forcibly back
by the villagers. How is that for
pluck-a naked, unarmed man against
a tiger? | began to respect my lun-
attic, and since he couldn't fire gun
/ gave him an Afghan knife and show
ed him how to use it, The first night
we had no luck.
The second night the brute drank
mile below it's usual place. But early
on the dawn of the third day they
came racing to tell us that the tiger
had carried away man from the well
and had taken to the jungle. The lun-
attic got out his knife and wiped it.
"Today, Sahib," he said quietly I'VE
shall kill him. will lead the way.
How he picked up the track through
the jungle | don't know; but ne did.
Then we lost it, but found it again IN
the river bed and followed it upward
for about a mile, the stream growing
thinner and the bed narrowed till at
last it disappeared and we had to burst
our way through vines and bamboo
grass over a ladder Of red hot stones
The lunatic was dripping from
every pore and painting like motor;
but he never ceased to taunt the IN
visible tiger, as if it were already dead
barking back to its remote ancestry
and moclking at the virtues OF tigresses
dead a thousand years ago, and all
the time lingering that end of brown
muslin Suddenly we came INTO a
little level where the now dried up
stream poured over a ledge Of rock,
followed out beneath into narrow
cave. cool and shadowy And there,
crouched to spring-my Lord the Tig-
er. I felt him coming and had just
time to fling myself aside. Blest if l
didn't go rolling down over the water
emoothed stones into the cave and ar
rived with my right hand clutching the
oun outfung beside me. Why it didn't
20 off is mystery.
lust had time to aim when my
Lord crashed back, his spring having
landed him among the bamboos The
lmnatic was making such a iendish row
with two fiat stones, shrieking and
bellowing simultaneously, that the
brute in the strong sunlight was dazed
and furious, Of course-and made Ior
his lair, open mouthed and snarllng'
| was standing right in the entrance
when he came at me. / put the
charge down his throat. He came on
at me. but 1 expected him to drop. ne
80 Ii rnn11lnd INV arm pretty bad