davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1924-05-04
A Case of Fifty-Fifty

the countess well bestowed in Cen
trail Park hotel He would have
busted himself with arranging details
for her journey westward, but she
naiveIy denied him that pleasure. She
| should leave in day or two, she said,
and would call him for a temporary
| adieu.
Hts mind was made up. He would
seek a divorce in the state whose law
was most Quickly accommodauns'
Then he wouh visit her in California
and propose. marriage. She had not
told him her place of sojourn on the
coast, and this he would learn before
she left New York.
The next morning he visited her
hotel. She had gone, but had left for
him a letter which Increased the
fame of his infatuation and strength
ened his purpose.
When he returned homo Mrs. Gill
roye upbraided him for not advising
her Of his coming, and tearfully com
planned that among other neglects no
never wished to be seen with her IN
public. He jollied her out of this no.
ton by promising TO spend the next
afternoon shopping with her.
They both emerged from lirno1-
sine on the avenue the next day. and
Gillroye dutifully led her dog about
between her visits to various shops.
She finally entered a nilliner's. and
he tarried for her. Mrs. Gillroye.
proud Of GiIlroye, at once Informed
the chief saleswoman that her hus-
band was waiting outside, making
this an excuse for prompt attention.
The saleswoman, curious as TO what
sort Of husband this sort of woman
could have. was at the show window
as Gillroye stood outside. Thev
caught each others eyes simultanc-
ously.
She was the companion. Of his
voyage! .-
Copyright, 1924
Evening star., 1924-05-04

way OF killing q tiger. The special
incentive was my curiosity about a
puzziing contrivance, very much in
disrepair, that I had run across in
the Jungle. 1t was a double cage,
made OF bamboo poles, sunk three or
four feet in the ground. A cage
within a cage was thing ] had
never seen before. Between the in
'ner and outer rows of bars there was
a space of about six inches.
The whole thing was at least eight
feet high, eight feet long and about
four feet wide. The poles were not
more than two inches apart. and-a
thing which struck me as odd-were
placed with great care directly op-
posite one another. / should have
expected to see them alternate.
What has sat inside this double
PRISON." inquired of Abdul Rahman.
"A man and a dog, tuan," he an
swered. "and also. on other nights. q
man and a goat, the smell OF a goat
and his bleat both being OF value"
began to see light.
He comes to hunt:" I asked.
Yes, tuan. He comes to kill"
l could see now the gruesome pic
ture that Abdul Rahman's words had
conjured up, and / understood that
the bars had been placed opposite
each other. not by accident, but to
leave free play for the hunters knife.
y i Z !;
TT was by means OF this trap that
= Tye hoped to Kill a tiger. With q
number of his friends, who helped
him carry poles and rattan for wrap
pings, he set out early in the after
noon, when there were still several
hours of light in which they could
repair the cage. When they had put
il in good shape Tye went in with a
dog. There had been no goat at the
time which he could take. so he had
just tied a rope around the neck OF
one of the dozen or more wretched
pariah dogs-scavengers, endured for
their stomach's sake-that SUNK
about the kampong, and dragged It
along.
He spread his palmleaf mating
and wrapped his head in his sarong
against the attacks OF mosquitoes.
Then his friends lowered the loose
bars, made them firm and left him.
/ can imagine their gay farewells,
their relief at being the ones to go.
That still hunt was not a popular
sport. There were not many of the
men who did not trump up some rea-
Evening star., 1924-05-04

dred feet or even more. / gave prizes
of small sums of money. Then, luck
lily, / thought OF the game that is
such a success on shipboard-tug of
war. l called for rope and told
each man just where he was TO stand.
There were ten to a side, and l sue
ceeded in matching them about
evenly. 1 knew them pretty we'll by
that time. and had picked them care
fully for relative weight and strength.
y
NEVER was there such u tugging
and pulling. They dug their toes
into the sand. The sweat poured from
them. The women screamed. shrek
after shrek. Il was a relief when.
finally. one side gave way. Then I
apiece, 81 in all. l bestowed these
they had been silver loving cups.
After this revsl the trapping began
in good earnest All the strongest
men in the place l took into the
jungle with me to dig the pits. The
work was done with hoes and spades.
These were OF Chinese make, and
very good tools, too. Since we always
Travelled light" we made the han
dies on the spot The men whom we
left at the kampong were busy all
days with the making OF cages and
nets The women worked on the nets
of smaller mesh. These were not un.
like fishrets, and were made by a
method already familiar
I paid the women we'll. putting the
money into their own hands. not their
husbands. 1t was SO unusual for
them to make money that they went
at il with nervous enthusiasm. Even
the children helped out by carrying
the lighter weights and doing some
of the simpler wrapping and tying.
Abdul said to me very thoughtfully.
will the tuan give me a charm TO
make men work."
mo one can carry that charm" I
answered, unless he was born in
land where the cold bites him."
Abdul sighed and stretched his
arms lazily. 1t was particularly
oppressive day, and rest was sweet.
When every member of the fifty
families composing the kampong was
working at top speed, Mahommed
Tye, AbduFs brother-in-law, a young
man about twenty-five years old.
straight, brave and first-rate at
spear throwing. decided to show me
what he could do all alone in the
Evening star., 1924-05-04

charm. When his friends came in
the morning he was still inside, his
sarong over his ears, and the tiger
on the outside, half dead and bowling
terribly.
They killed it at once. All together
they skinned it and secured the pre-
cious entrails. / saw them, Just as
they were starting back with the
spoils. My watch fob no one had
dared to touch; had to get it myself
Deciding not to risk my reputation
as a charm worker any further,
filled Tye's ears with praise, and told
him I wanted him to work for me the
rest of my stay. I bought his tiger
skin on the spot for $50. 1t was
worth about $40. 1 did not want it,
but my success depended on general
good will.
My most serious undertaking on
this expedition was the making of
wedge-shaped pits for the capture of
rhinoceroses and tapirs. In an earlier
article 1 described in detail these
pits and the method of using them.
The sloping sides were designed to
save the legs of the animals, which
would have been broken in square
pits. Concealment of these great
holes demanded a degree of skill that
was almost art. Beside a pit a lattice
work was made of branches laid
criss-cross, and over it wet earth was
plastered.
The men pulled up grass by the
roots, practically planted it there and
scattered leaves upon 1t. When it
looked exactly like part of the jungle
floor. on which it lay, they lifted it
and placed it over the pit. They
worked as II they were making
stage setting or playing sort of
monster game, except that they wen.
about it very quietly, while the mon
keys peeped down at them and chat
tered We took goat with us and
Evening star., 1924-05-04

men crowded up close behind me. 7
moved forward slowly, very eau
tiously, and caught sight at length,
of water buffalo. Her head was
down and she was circling round and
round something that, for the mo-
mapt, l could not see. After an in
stapt my eyes caught the stripes OF
q full-grown tiger, half hidden in the
long grass.
The dark, hairless hide of the buf-
falo' was streaming blood: great
sashes redeemed its finaks, sides and
shoulders. l saw the tiger spring up
from the grass. The buffalo leaped
to one side and tossed her head SO
that one long horn caught the tiger
and threw him back.
DO you want to see the fght?"
called to the men.
'Ya! va, CYes! YesD"
-'Then up into the trees?'
Jungle Malays climb like cats. They
have a way of striking with their
knives a sharp blow that hicks the
bark just enough for finger and toe
holds. Then up they go and down
come their hands to pull up friend.
Abdul Rahman, on branch above
my head, took my gun and passed II
up the tree. He undid his sarong
with twist of his fingers and hung
the end of it down to me. L caught
it and half scrambled, was half
hauled, up the tree trunk. My shoes,
at such time, were great handicap.
x = x
T SETTLED myself on a limb with
an uninterrupted view Of the bat
tie. There was sparring for time on
both sides. The tiger crouched, growl-
ing, and the buffalo circled. After a
few minutes OF this the buffalo made
dash and raked the tiger with her
horns. The tiger 1eaped back, sprang
at the buffalos flank, buried his
fangs and then seemed to whirl away.
I saw him only as a confused blur Of
stripes and grass.
I realized that the men about me
were watching with the tenseness
with which a Malay looks on at cock
fight I heard a murmur of voices.
They were laying bets.
The tiger gathered his forces, gave
his coughing roar and sprang at the
head of the buffalo. The great COW
met this onslaught with thick neck
bent. ...--...
The force Of the impact sent her
back on her launches. She shook her
horns. but the tiger clung to her head
as IL he had been part of it. With the
huge cat biting and clawing, she
struggled to regain her footing.
At last, balancing on her horns the
load of her terrible headdress, she
staggered to her feet For moment
she held the tiger in the air; then.
| lowering her head, she threw him to
the earth. Slowly. her knees bent. she
pressed her weight of ton and
| half against his body. There was q
snarl, a roar and then long-drawn
| cat yowl.
| The buffalo shook her head free,
snorting and believing. Her legs
were quivering beneath her. but, as
the tiger lay prone, she threw herself
at him with a force that must have
Evening star., 1924-05-04

son why they could never undertake
1t. Being alone in the jungle at
night is not a heart-warming expert
ence.
In the morning Tye's friends went
out to help him with his tiger--if he
had got one-or to escort him back
IL he had not Tye and the rest came
back empty handed and depressed.
The dog was pulling against his rope.
Ny party met them as we went out
to inspect pits and nets. And the
next morning we came upon them
again. very near the same place and
almost at the same time, still with
out a prize and even more deeply dis
couraged. Five nights in succession
Tye went TO his den without any
result.
Then Abdul Rahman came to me
and asked:
'wfll the master make q good
may put it on the cage to bring a
tiger7
did not like this very much.
rather suspected that an idea had got
into their ghost-haunted brains that
I had put q curse on the cage be-
cause I did not want any one but my
self to get animals. I consented,
rather unwiliingiy, to work good
magic" for Tye, but stipulated that
he should not 60 near the cage for
three nights. that he should take a
goat instead OF a dog, and that he
should have but two companions TO
escort him when he did go and but
three to meet him in the morning.
When the night came I lent him my
silver watch fob, which ! had rubbed
to a bright polish. 1t would bring
him luck. l explained, and gave him
the heart OF a tapir. I was nervous
about his success after this, but was
not deserted by the good fortune that
had SO far followed me through Su-
matra.
The very first night OF my charm
working Tye got his tiger. though
not in the brilliant way he would
have desired. The tiger had come
late in the night and the goat had
Evening star., 1924-05-04

number OF them did succeed, however
in biting their way free. The traps,
pits and nets were on runways lead
ing up to and around drinking pools,
and all of them were within a radius
of mile, so that our whole danger
zone for beasts could be covered in a
day. .....
MY success was beyond my highes.
A'A hopes. One disaster, to be sure,
befell me in the first stage of my
shipping. A raft struck the rocks
and broke the lashings and four cages
went overheard. Some small deer,
few civet cats, some monkeys, a
clouded tiger cat, which / regretted,
and a perfect specimen of binturong
were lost.
The men, working in water above
other animals on the raft, which, ac-
cording to my custom, had been made
with an elevated platform to keep
the cages well out Of the water. Aside
from this one misadventure, 1 got OFF
lightly. After the work was once in
full swing I sent raft after raft
safely on the four days trip TO my
friend the hadji, in Palembang.
When concluded, at last, that /
had almost as many specimens. as I
could profitably dispose of, I went
with a dozen or more men to make
one last round of the section of the
jungle that had yielded SO rich d
haul-a final Cleanup" AS we were
nearing one of the pits, built near a
muddy drinking pool in a break in
the Jungle. I suddenly heard some
thing strange confusion of wild
beast cries, - ~. coo ,.. e.
The sounds seemed to separate
themselves into the believing of a
buffalo and the snarling and coughing
Of a tiger. Abdul .Rahman handed
me my gun and took the lead. The
Evening star., 1924-05-04
Wild Indian Life in Canvas Woods
Stenhen Leacock Presents New Historical Drama

into the boiling water and is boiled
De Volatile fees.
Areopagitica vows vengeance. Stain
ing himself with grape juice, he de-
clares war OF determination against
the white race. The camp of the
French Is surprised in night at
tack. Piiaffe de Volatile, fighting
with the courage of his race, is
pierced with an Indian arrow. He
expires on the spot, leaving just time
before he dies to prophesy in blank
verse the future greatness of the
United States.
Areopagitics, standing apong the
charred ruins of the stockaded fort
and gazing upon the faces of the
dead, irvokes the nebular Hypothesis
and prophesizes clearly the League
Of Nations.
Copyright, 1924
Evening star., 1924-05-04

the waterfall. Love steals into their
hearts. PilaHe dc Volatile invokes
the moon:
Thou silver orb whose incandescent
face
Smiles on the bosom OF the turgid
food,
Look deep into mine heart and search
if aught
Less pure than thy white beam in
spires its love,
Soda, be mine"
Soda Water speaks:
Alas. What words are these! What
thought is this?
Thy meaning what? Unskilled to
know,
My simple words can find no answer
to the hearts appeal.
Where am 1 at?
Pilaffe de Volatile: Flee with me-.
Soda Water: Alas.
PilafYe: Flee!
Soda Water Invoking the constel-
lations of the zodiac):
Ye glimmering lights that from the
Milky Way
To the tall zenith of the utmost pole
Hume the vault Of heaven and indi-
cate
The inclination Of the axis of the
earth
Showing sidereal time and the mean
measurement
OF the earth's paraffax,
Pilaffe de Volatile Gin despair:
"Oh hele:"
Both the lovers know that their
tragic love Is hopeless. For them.
marriage is out of the question. De
Volatile is sprung from an old French
family, with eight quarters of noble
birth, a high average even at time
when most people were well born.
He cannot ally himself with anything
less white than himself. On the other
hand, Sparkling Soda knows that,
after the customs of her time, her
father has pledged her hand to The
Encyclopedia. She cannot marry a
pale face.
THUS, what might have been hap
py marriage is Queered from the
start. Each is too we'll born to steop
to the other. This often happens.
Standing thus in the moonlight be-
side the waterfall, the lovers are sur
prised by Areopagitica and The Ency-
clopedia. In despair, Sparkling Soda
leaps into the flood. The noble Ency-
clopedia piunges headiong after her
Evening star., 1924-05-04

yOu-InlS Is al
g \ question, but Id like to
~ know-arc you a bache-
u lor?" CoQuetry and i'm
pulse were mingled in her manner.
And you really would like to
know" His manner showed infatua-
ton.
YES. Haven't we gone far enough
for candor?'
I'VE have. Happily, I am baehe-
lor"
And they resumed the little details
that describe the finesse OF Irritation.
On shipboard, out of Bordeaux. bound
for New York, they had developed
one Of those sudden romances that
figure in the daily press under the
heading. Married Two Days After
Meeting" or perhaps one day, as such
cases differ.
He was Ambrose Giliroye. of lin
cage long and more or less distin-
guished in its remotsr reaches His
line had gone to seed, as far as effort
Is concerned, two or three genera
tions ahead of his advent Averse to
work and despising trade. he had
married money, minus everything
else that counts with a sentimental
ist, although the money involved was
won in trade. Before marriage and
for some time after that event he
had roamed abroad, seeking pleasure
where it was to be had. The war had
stopped these excursions for two
years, but at last, weary Of his pie
beian matrimonial partner, he had
gone abroad, in hope of renewing his
old joys.
Fortified with passports and all
other necessary documents that are
supposed to insure immunity. he had
reached Paris, but the atmosphere of
the city was so different from that
which formerly attracted him that he
quickly decided to return. His nat
ural gayety had been eclipsed by his
disappointment as to a pleasure So
iourn, but it returned when on ship
board he discovered an object for his
galIantry. He was a handsome fell
low. and handsome fellows always I'LL
the feminine eye The Countess Of
Bazentin was the name on the ships
list of the fair one whose first glance
promised reciprocal attention.
The countess and Gillroye had
needed no introduction. He had ar
ranged her rug almost at the first
moment they had met on deck. The
third day out found them in a senti-
mental maze. They were so much
together that her maid and his man
enjoyed uawonted liberty.
my encourage is quite unpreten-
tious, as you see," she had said. apol-
ogeticaIly. MY estates in France
were among those involved In the
terrors Of war. My chateau has beeL
Cismantled, and for the moment I am
an economizing wanderer, though my
future is financially insured" -
do you remain long in American.
"For the. winter only. ! am going
across your great continent to Calf
fornia, where / shall remain until
spring Is ..,, .. -,
And then I shall see you in New
York;" e..
"Why not?"
. This colloquy took place soon after
their first coming together And her
query as to whether he was married
was the result of closer intimacy.
On arrival in New York-he had
not advised Mrs. Gillroye of his In
tended return, in line with his usual
reticence toward her-Gillroye saw
Evening star., 1924-05-04

With The Encyclopedia-a brave Of
the Appendices.
And Pilaffe dc Volatile, a French
Coureur des bois.
Areopagitica:
Hail, vernal sun, that thus with trail
ing beam
rlluminates with gold the flaming
east.
Hail, too, cerulean sky that touched
with fire
Expels tn accumulate cloud Of van
ished night.
The Encyclopedias: Hail! oh, hail!
Pilaffe de Volatile: Hele! Oh, hele!
Areopagitica:
All nature seems to leap with morn
to song,
Tempting to gladness the awakening
bird,
Fen the dark cedar feels the glad
some hour
And the light lsrch pulsates in every
frond
Who art thou? Whence? And whittier
goest thou?
Pilaffe de Volatile:
Thrice three revolving suns have
waxed and waned
Since first / wended hither from afar
Nor knowing not, nor caring aught,
IL here or there,
Who am ? One that is. whence
come ? From beyond
The restless main whose hyperboreal
Leaves coast and clines unknown,
Oh Chief, to thy sagscity,
From France I came.
Areopagitica: Hail!
(What Pilaffe de Volatile means is
that he has been out here for nine
years and lives near Wettawamkeag.
But there is such a size and feeling
about this other way of saying 1t that
it seems a shame that dramas of this
kind can't be acted.)
A F'TER they have all said "oh
hailn' and "Oh heie." as many
times as is necessary, Aeropagitica
and The Encyclopedia take Pilaffe de
Volatile to. the Lodge of the Appen-
dixcs.
There he is entertained on hot dog.
And there he meets Sparkling Soda
Water, the daughter of Areopagitica-
After the feast the two wander out
into the moonlight together beside
Evening star., 1924-05-04

bleated. Tye had got his parang
ready.
The tiger had walked around the
cage, smelling the ground. Then il
had stood UP and Tye had struck
his blow. It was a good blow. he in
sisted. hard enough TO kill three
tigers, but the beast had put its
two eyes on the bright charm and it
would not let him die" The tuan,
Tye said, had forgotten to tell the
magic metal not to work for the
tiger,
DOR man and beast bad hours had
followed. At least they would
have been bad hours for a white man.
The tiger fell with a roar just be-
yond the reach OF the long knife. Tye
did not dare go outside the cage to
dispatch 1t, since he thought that it
was under the protection of my
Evening star., 1924-05-04
md TIGER Have Mortal Duel In Heart of the J dngle

broken his back. His howi;ng grew
weakersand weaker. The sight of his
limp body. seemed to revives her. With
'snorts that were half fury, half tri-
umph. she began to paw him and
stamp upon him.
When her rage had worn itself out,
she stood shaking, bleeding from her
many wounds and from her nose. and
Her calf" Abdul RAhman whis-
pered to me. I'VE must climb higher,
tuan, and we shall see
The grass where the fight had
taken place was beaten fat, but be-
yond it was quite high. If we wero
to see into If, we must be we'll above
it. SO we climbed higher and higher.
Look" Abdul cried.
He pointed out a small, dark and
shining body, with the grass waving
above it. 1t was the bufYaIo's c2If,
lying on its side and bleeding at tho
throat The tiger had killed 1t, prob
ably, at 3 spring. The COW stumbled
over toward it. She stood above. II,
calling to it. When IL did not move,
she lowered her head and very gently
thrust her horn under 1t, lifting It
up It hung for a time, its legs
dangling limp.
Abdul said to me in a tone which
was tender for Malay. because a.
Malay is a boy who never grows UP:
"A buffalo COW and woman, tuan--
Allah has made them much alike"
True" I answered, but when a,
woman is in grief, one can help her
but little. For this water buffalo
can end all her sorrows., Shall do
thisr
"Yes, tuan," he answered she has
many wounds. Give her the bullet
that says 'good-by."
+.*
LIE handed me my gun. sighted
it up to a hundred yards. took
careful aim and pulled the trigger.
The COW did not utter a sound. She
dropped on her knees and fell over
the body OF her calf
We all clambered down out Of the
tree. The men were terribly excited.
They spat upon the tiger and: cursed
him-even those that had put their
money on him. They praised the huf-
falo, calling her beautiful, as she
certainly was not. The calf, with 'ts
long legs, was uglier stilf. Perhaps,
in their own estimation. the greatest
compliment they paid the fighting
COW was their STOPPING down to cry
into her dead ear that she had the
heart of bull. = -
The meat of the buffalo is too
coarse to be eaten. The bodies were
left as they lay. Tho tiger was SO
lacerated, was such mass OF broken
bones and crushed flesh that II was
impossible for the men to take his
head and skin for the $40 bounty that
the Dutch offered. Even his whis-
kers could not be pulled out. But an
enterprfsing Malay discovered one ear
intact. This he cut off. Abdul told
me that, though he did not believe
in all charms, II was quite true that,
if the ear OF such q very bad tiger
was dried and worn round the waist,
no living tiger would dare touch the
man so protected
When 1 look back on my expert
ences in that virgin jungle OF
Sumatra-upon my successes there,
which were many, and my failures.
which were few-the picture In my
mind that stands out most clearly
is that Of the water buffalo tossing
her striped enemy to the earth.
tCopyrixAt. 1874,