Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-09-24

muzzles in the life giving fluid. A fine
peacock appeared, spreading his proud
tail before a bevy of sober piumaged
hens; a jungle cock orowed loudly in a
patch OF grass, and his challenge was
taken up in the adjacent thicket. A
troop OF gray monkeys with black faces
came swinging from tree to tree, and
one or two at time with caution and
fear expressed in their movements and
in the grlmaces on their sooty counter
ances, came down to snatch a hasty
draught of water.
The heat and exertions of the day
made me sleepy and more than once /
found myself nodding over the rife that
| lay across my knees. At last | must
actually have fallen asleep, and as I
| slept | dreamed
Suddenly it seemed all the voices of
| the forest were hushed The animals
that had come to drink disappeared as if
| by magic. and in the gray light of the
approaching night no living thing re-
manned. Then there came a human cry
"a shrek of fear and agony-from the
bushes some distance up the ravine in
which the pool lay, followed by the roar
| OF tiger. A moment more and all was
still again. | remained spellbound, I'M
able to move hand or foot. Next heard
the deep breathing of the tiger as the
beast came down the watercourse. and
! the sound of his velvet football in the
4 dry leaves; he was evidently dragging
his victim with him, for the heels could
be heard trailing through the leaves.
| The monster came nearer and nearer:
he approached the pool, but | could see
nothing, although it was quite light and
| all objects were distinctly visible. |
heard the sound of his CHASTITY burden
being dropped on the waters edge, and
OF his tapping tongue, which disturbed
the surface and sent rings out from the
margin; but still no living thing was
visible. After quenching its thirst, it
resumed its burden and went on down
the nullah; and as l looked the great
footprints of a tiger were marked off
one by one in the sand. with the track
of dragging heels alongside, right down
the ravine, as far as the eye could see
But the monster itself remained visible
| awolSe about midnight feeling rather
ashamed of myself for falling asleep. So
vivid had my strange dream vision been
that | had difficulty in shaking off the
impression it had made upon me. The
moon had not yet risen, and it was pitch
dark. | grasped my rifle and peered into
the deepening gloom There was no sign
OF cat-like form, no sound of stealthy
tread. Scarcely even could | distinguish
the glimmer of solitary star in the
depths of the pool below. Presently,
however, a faint effulgence heralded the
coming moon, faint, ghost-like outlines
OF trees appeared, and gradually the
white light spread through the forest,
deepening the shadows and lighting up
the water below.
Suddenly something emerged from the
shadows and stood on the bank above
the pool, gray and indefinite in form: as
my eyes became accustomed to the light
] saw that it was an immense tiger!
The beast walked to the waters edge
and bent down to drink, when bullet
from my trusty rifle pierced the point
OF his shoulder and he fell dead without
a sound.
i In the morning my men came. and we
went up the watercourse to the place
where | had heard the human cry in the
vision of the night. There among the
bushes we found woodman's rusty ak
and a few rags which had been part of
the clothing of its owner. They had evil
IDENTIFY been lying there some months.
Following the course of the ravine for a
hundred yards beyond the pool | found
no tigers tracks. but something cleaned
round and white in the rays of the rising
lsun. 1t was human skull! From this
we were able to reconstruct the scene of
the tragedy that had taken place The
wood cutter had been killed by a tiger
at the place where we found his ak, and
the monster had dragged his victim down
the nullah and devoured him where the
skull lay, no doubt stopping on the way
to drink at the pool The tragedy had
occurred some months previously. and in
all probability the tiger | had killed was
the murderer. But why or how the
vision should have been presented to the
watcher over the pool it is impossible for
me to say. l asked the shikaree what he
thought of it, but he could not say much.
"Sahib," he said, there are many
things that happen in the forest we know
little about, even we who have wandered
in the wilds for forty years The Gonds
could tell us if they would; they are
almost as wild as the beasts of the for
est. They tell me that they will not 90
into that jungle, for there is a demon
there. And this ak, they say, belonged
to Lungota Papa. who went there to
cut wood six months ago and was never
seen again. Wide World Magazine.
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