Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-22

THE MalayS were in hurry to get back out
OF the jungle, so OF they sped, handing
over the nose rope, and Herbert proceeded to
tie up an increasingly indignant bull The beast
was little Slow-witted about making up his
mind whether to back or plunge and Herbert
had him tied before he took advantage of his
opportunities. Hastily Herbert now lighted o
small lamp.
We had been told by many people that tigers
utterly disregard lights and that lamp would
not keep them away It was certainly essen
tial to have a little light on our animals, as
there was no moon and we could not see to
shoot in the darkness. 1t did not sound very
reasonable to us, since tiger was cautious
about approaching anything out Of the way,
but II the inhabitants Of Sumatra said so, they
ought to know So In a leafy thicket we ar
ranged a tiny lamp that threw a pale ray
upon the menagerie.
I was glad of the light, for wanted to kill
the tiger the moment it appeared, before it
had harmed the animals. hated to use living
bait. It is one thing to know that tiger kills
some living thing almost every night of it's
life. but 1t is another to have to see him do it.
The dogs, in particular, troubled me. sup
pose that extinction Is the happieSt possible
fate for any dogein Mohammedan community
but these dogs might have their own prefer
ences. The community was not strictly Mo-.
hammedan or 1t would not have possessed dogs
at ALL but 1t did possess them and treated them
with callouS caSualneSS. These little fellows
were so starved that we handed over to them
as gesture Of apoogy more than half the food
we had brought for our own supper, and they
wolfed 1t down voraciously
AS we did these final things we were con-
sciouS Of glancing furtively over our shoulders
into the blackening caverns of shadows then
we scrambled up the ladder and took our
places upon the platform. We crouched side
by side, looking down upon the menagerie
upon which the lamp threw a faint finger
Of light. We rested our guns on a bit of sap
ling at the edge of the platform, and settled
down to q night of motionless waiting.
The men who had made this platform had
told us that they had seen tiger tracks very
near in the forest, so we had some degree
of hope to sustain u.s. If there was a tiger
anywhere about and that bull let out one Of
his bellows the tiger could not possibly remain
In ignorance of the whereabouts of a possible
meal. He might come 10 investigate and II
he judged the bull too huge to tackle, he
could pick on the goat or the dogs. 1t seemed
to me that we were catering to every possible
taste.
All about us the jungle began waking to
its nocturnal life. Its stiffness was the still
ness of furtive, watchful things, intent and
careful The listening ear caught the
infinite detail of the small. hushed noises on
which the stiffness pressed faint rus
things the slithering of serpent
passing the springing release of q
bough the whirring of a bats wings.
The air vibrated to the high, thin tremolO
OF insects j.. :. Now and then, from the
depths Of the forest, came some coughing
grunt.
It was black as a bats cave save for the
pale flare that touched the outlines Of the