Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-04
TIGERS REMARKABLE DEVOTION
Rural Postman Owed His Life to the
Strange Friendship of a Wild Beast.


that my heart misgives me for your
safety. Can you not get substitute,
for today at least?"
Not at such short notice." said Tul-
81 Ram, busily sorting out the letters
which had been given him for Tha-
kore But what is it that you fear?
1t is some months now since Govind
Naik encountered that wandering
leopard-and his hurt was but small.
All this time 1 have passed daily be-
tween Kerail and Thakore, and have
seen naught more dangerous than
sambur-though, indeed" added the
runner, refiectively, 'the spoor of
larger beasts has been visible on the
path at times. Now, were there da-
colts on the road"
The road to which Tulsi Ram re-
ferred was a foot-worn track con-
Meeting the villages Of Kerail and Tha-
kore For about one half its length 1t
wound through some Of the widest
country in Rajputana.
Yes" continued Tulsi Ram, 1T is
too late to secure a substitute today;
and these mails must be carried to
Thakore without fail. if l am to re-
tain my employment. But, lest your
dreams portend evil, wife, shall shar-
pen my spear and keep a very good
watch going and coming. The rest Is
with the gods!"
ITO whom shall make proper Offer
ings-ill though we can afford the
cost" said his wife, impressively, IF
they preserve you from danger" She
then handed him a small packet OF
cakes, which he placed in pocket Of
his tunic.
Tulsi Ram next proceeded to whet
the blade of the short spear with which
postcarriers in the country districts
are armed. Before he left his wife,
with the notion of averting misfor-
tune from him, she passed her hands
down his face, cracking her knuckles
and uttering an intercessory prayer
to Vishnu.
At an easy jogtrot the runner pass
ed through the fields outside Of Kerail
and was soon out of sight in the scrub
land beyond. With only an occasional
halt to remove a thorn from his foot,
or, perchance, to alter the position Of
the bag slung over his left shoulder, he
trotted, slackening to a fast walk
where a hill interviewed; and today he
was careful to nurse his strength, lest
he should be suddenly called upon to
exert all his powers in fight or in
skirm!sh. In about an hours time he
had climbed to the edge of the forest
land, wherein danger to life might be
more reasonably expected to occur.
Here, in the shade, he halted for few
minutes in order to refresh himself for
the smart run he proposed to take
through the forest.
Il fear the stream" he muttered; "it
is so cool and inviting that 1t is
thereabouts q wild beast is most likely
to lurk. And it is there that one must
needs go slowly and carefully with an
eye to muggers (alligators), and the
staff to feel for unusual depth Of water
owing to a distant freshet. However,
1t is all with the GODS" he grunted,
and, having girded afresh his loins,
sought the path once more.
With every mile the inclosing jungle
grew denser and quieter, the vista at
every turn greener, coloring the very
sunlight that filtered through the fol-
iage overhead. The soft ''pat-pat" Of
the runners fastening feet awoke lit
tie sound, and he was careful to tread
between or stride over such dried lit
ter as had fallen along the path.
Bravely did he jingle his bells, espe-
cially as he approached those bits Of
adjoining shrubbery which had always
appeared to him likely lurking places
for felines on the watch for the small
er game that frequently used the open
path in preference to the forest ways
with their deadly possibilities.
After he had gone about three
miles Tulsi Ram arrived at the ravine
which intersected the path and formed
a kind of boundary between the areas
of the forest it divided off,
A gloomy place is that ravine. 1t is
some so feet deep and about 100 yards
wide, and in it's hollow runs the drain
age of the adjoining hillsides-a stream
perhaps 80 PAGES wide in the hot
months, but raging, impossible tor
rent when the rains fill it from bank
to bank with sudden freshets. It's
shores are strewn with loose pebbles,
which slide away under foot with un-
canny loudness; the waters edge is
lined with clumps of Overgrown reeds,
and the stream itself is dark with re-
fiections, with many a deep hole where
the mugger lies ever watchful.
Here it was that Govind Naik's pre-
decessor vanished, mail bag and all, a
victim to a patroling alligator; it was
here that Vovind Naik himself startled
a leopard into attack as the brute was
returning from the waters edge drag
ging a foolish barking deer.
1t was here that Tulsi RAMS Won
derful experience began with short,
grating tiger roar that held him SPELL
bound even as he was about to enter
the stream. So sudden and so uneX-
pected was the sound that he could
not for the life of him say whence it
came He stood motionless as the
stream murmured noisily past, his
faculties completely numbed. Then
there was a crashing noise in reed
clump not two PAGES from him, fol-
lowed by a loud splash, and he saw an
alligator dive hurriedly for the higher
reaches of the stream.
The reptile must have been lying in
wait for some unwary deer or pig, and
had been driven by the tigers growl
into abandoning it's situation in order
to betake itself into an element where
it would have all the advantage in de-
fense or attack.
The occurrence served to arouse the
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