Bisbee daily review., 1907-07-25
A TIGER IN A TREE.
Experience of a Whaler's Grew In the
 Ialand of lave.


 Island of JaV2.
 Two days had been spent watering ship at a spring on the banks of the New river, which is a days sail from Anjer. a neat little roadstead in the island of Java, and on the morning of the third day the captain of the New Bedford whaler concluded he would make an excursion a few miles up the river Accordingly his boat was fitted out with some provisions, and there was gun for each man, with plenty of ammunition. The captain took his rife, the only weapon of it's kind on board. A young whaler with record as a good shot-a tiger Gt twenty feet being his most famous achievement was ordered into the boat Gs the look out man and sharpshooter. What fol. lowed after they set sail is best told in his own words as he has written them in Forest and Stream:
 The wind was fair, and we proceed ed up tho river at good pace. Ii was a narrow. sluggish stream. its banks borlcred with virgin forests and no sign of human Eabitation. The trees were full of birds and monkeys, and they kept up a racket which was novel and interesting to us. Then, too. the captain was in excellent hu- nor, full of yarns Of his voyages and adventures, and the time passed rap idly. At noon we ate our lunch and took in sail and began our return jou"- ney. estimating that we had gone up the river about fifteen miles.
 The wind was now dead ahead. and we got out oars for fifteen mile pull. a mere trife for well seasoned whale men. Bending to the ash, we made the boat spin along at lively gait and were some five miles away from the turning point when suddenly the cap tain exclaimed:
 My goodness. Look at that tiger" And, sure enough. lying well out on an overhanging branch of a tree under which we must pass lay magnificent tiger, evidently watching its chance to spring into our boat.
 To say that the captain was "gallied" conveys but a faint idea of his mental condition, and as for my shipmates they were n sight to behold. Perhaps my experience at Anjer helped to steady my nerves, for while the cap tain was still in a funk said conf dently:
 Captain, let me have your rife, and I feel sure I can knock that fellow off his perch"
 The captain handed me the rife, and in an instant I drew a bead, and just as the captain was saying, Now, Jack, don't miss him." I fired. I felt shaky myself, for I knew If I missed him the chances were that when he made his spring he would land in our frail boat and that would be the end of boat, cap tain and crew.
 But the bullet went to the mark. Like an arrow from bow the beauti- ful creature shot through the air. We felt the wind of his form as he passed only few inches over our heads and, with a fearful splash, went below the surface of the water. The instant he struck the captain roared like a lion:
 "Now pull, boys, pull! Let's get out of this internal hole"'
 We did pull, better perhaps than we ever did on going on to a whale, and the gait we made in going back to the ship held the record for the rest of the voyage Long after, sometimes whe ! the captain would get excited in pull ing for a fleeing whale, he would sing out: Pull. boys, pull! There's a tiger up that tree"'