Year: 1865




buffalo was preparing to lic down,


when soizirg the branches of the tree


from which he had fallen on the brute's


neck, he swung himself up into his


old position. lie had not, however,


been very long there when the smart


ing in his hand and legs cnused him


to romember that he had boen bitten


by snakes. The very idea Of this, and


tho knowledge that ono of those ven-


omous reptiles was in the tree ON,


which lie was perched, caused deadly


faintness, from which it was some
time before he rallied.


"Altsrnatsly fainting and reviving,
hour after hour pissed away, night
darksned down upon the Jungle, and
the buffalo still kept watch and
ward ct the foot of tho tree. At
length, at TN edvanced hour Of the
night, 10 suddenly bocame concious
that tremendous struggle was going
on between the-Bstialo and some large
wild animal, which he Judged to be T.
tiger. The growing Of tina latter
he continues, the groans Of the buff.
falo, the noise of thsil etru9gles, and
the ineessant blenting Of the calf
combined in producing series Of
sounds which in the darkness Of night,
appeared worthy Of the inhabitants
of Pandemonium. For full five min,
utes, which seemed hours to me, the
dreadful struggle continued, until at
length the groans Of the buffalo sub
sided into series Of gasps and snorts,
and the sounds of the struggling on.
the ground almost ceased. L could,
however, hear the growling, snarling
and splitting ike an Immense cat
OF course descent was now out of tho
question. therefore determined TO
remain whore | was until daylight, if
l did not die from the effects Of the
snake bites before morning appeared.
SO strong was the interest with which
L listened and strained my eyes for
the purpose of learning what was GO
ing on below that even ceased to
think OF this contingency, and forget
tho death-hke swoons l had previously
experienced. After some time spent
in listening te the noise made by the,
animal enjoying his feast of buffalo
flesh, the sounds ceased suddenly. L
felt sure, however, that the beast had
not departed, for / he'd kept my eyes
fixed on tho dark outlines under the
shadow OF the tree, and the mass re-
mainod Of the same appearance. L
fancied could trace tho form Of n
tiger lying alongside the dead buffalo,
and this was the shape the dark OBJ
iect had assumed and retained since
the termination Of the conflict


"At length, however, succor was
at hand. Seeingalight in the distance,
lie shouted as loudly as he could, and
this attracted tho notice of a party
who had set out in search of him
On coming up to the spot, both tiger
and buffalo were found to be dead.
On telling his friends he had been
bitten by snakes they first examined
been caused 6y-aaipounced the wound
On turning down his stockings h2ye
discovered several leeches gorged with
blood, for numbers of these yoracious
animals had bitten him during his
ride through the water On the buiialo's
back The Paintings he had expert
enced were attributed TO the loss of
blood from the leoch bites. They then
turned their attention TO the dead til
ger. Not wound was discovered
about the carcass, but on slightlyare-
moving tho body of the buffalo, they
discovered the bottle Of cyanide of
which had been intended
for chronological purposes, broken,
and partially introduced into the
wound in the neck from which the
tiger had sucked the blood Of his VIC
tim. While imbibing the life blood
of the buffalo the tiger had also re-
ceived one of the most deadly poisons
known, which in tho course of a very
short time had produced its usual ia
tai result The position Of tho two
animals and of the deadly bottle left
no room for doubling that sach had
been tie case. On ascending the tree
in such hot haste the poisoned bottle
and other little matters were dropped,
and during tho struggle between tho
animals the former was broken, and
perhaps even cut it's way into the Jug
lar of tho buffalo {; thus probably as
sisting in the death of the latter, rs
well as proving so fatally destructive
to tho tiger. On the appearance of
dawn they discovered small wasp.
nest hanging in the tree. Later in
the day they had the satisfaction Of
experimenting the skinning of tho
tiger, and distributing the meat to tho
villagers, some Of whom regard it AZ
particularly strengthening food. Tho
absence of bullet holes rendered tho
skin q valuable one"