Evening star., 1926-04-11

come, here they comei there,
hiyah. there is the tiger. Now you
can kill him. now you can kill him."
Yes, I thought, I could II / had a
gun. For a single moment I confess
did not feel altogether at perfect
ease, yet I dare not show the slightest
wavering. BY some peculiar force
was held under a spell. I could not
move. l could not speak, and. looking
in front of me on the side of the
river bank, somewhat beyond me.
where the river took a sudden bend,
l saw q most wonderful animal pranc-
ing through the long grass in my di-
rection. He was about so yards away.
and he held me so fascinated that
could not take my eyes from him.
The animal was a beautiful male Of
the species, with an exceedingly rich
and healthy coat, soft and glossy in
texture. which shone In the sunlight,
and he had markings SO even and
delicate that he formed magnificent
sight, with the green foliage as a fit
ting background. But l speedily came
to my senses and saw that | was in
no fit place to admire a tiger from
the jungle; so. with one eye on the
enemy and the other on the place
where l could climb to swing across
the bridge, / carefully contemplated
my mode of procedure should he come
my way.
1t was evident that he had not seen
me, and though he was keen Of scent.
the wind was in my favor. For a mo-
ment he stopped, shifted the air like
a cat smelling fish, looked toward the
bridge. and then sat down on his
launches to scratch himself.
X X
TT seemed to me I had never seen
i such a magnificent creature in my
life. His length seemed to exceed
that of a lion. / should judge that he
was about feet from the nose to the
root OF his tail, and his tail was an
other feet. The predominant color.
of course. was a bright rufous fawn,
with black cross stripes, and the un-
der parts were whitish.
Then this huge brute moved along
in the grass like lizard for few
yards-he stopped. listened. shifted
the air again, then lifted his head
above the long grass.
All this that I saw took place in far
less time that it takes to write 1t. and
then, keen of sight. as all tigers are,
especially of near objects, he evidently
caught sight of me and the two men
with me. He held his great head up
and seemed to be gazing straight at
me, when his attention was diverted
by the bleating of the goat he heard
not far from him.
He certainly had acute hearing and
great power of localizing sounds, yet
he seemed not to be able to determine
what it was he heard, and calmly sat
down to pay attention to his toilet.
He licked his coat, he nibbled at his
toes, he scratched his ear, and then,
quick as flash, he was seen to spring
several feet into the air with a sud.
den, almost explosive, output of en-
ergy, and he came forward toward
the bridge with a great bound and q
snarl inspiring terror-but with a
poisoned arrow in his flank.
: Momentarily I looked toward the
bridge, and there saw old Sung Pao-
chi preparing another arrow, for it
was he who had done the trick. There
he was, perfectly comfortable, with a
loop of bamboo around his waist, sus-
pending him to the bamboo hawser
which made the bridge.
Loa F'u-tsi was up in tree, and
when the animal had seated himself
on his launches some secret signal
had passed between these two men.
and Loa Fu-tsi had not yet fired. But