Year: 1874

aging myself as walked as fast as
could without actually running by such


reflections as these, although / felt q
cold perspiratiOn and my knees knocked


together, am not ashamed to say, with


pure fright. Remember had no rifle
gun, or even pistol with me, and was
quite at the mercy of the tiger, if tige,
it was. Perhaps for one hundred yards
or so / restrained my curiosity to look
round again, bnt Mt last this overcame
my sense Of prudence and / stopped short
and faced round. There could be nc
mistake this time. Not thirty PAGES
from me, standing full in the moonlight,
was large tiger, which crouched to the
ground directly as turned. l do not
know what another person would have
done under the circumstances; for N.Y.
self, | felt for the moment mad with
mingled rage and mingled terror. To
be followed thus was cruel and irritating,
and there must be an end of it. This
was the predominant thought in my
mind, though at the same time cold with
fear. / cursed the tiger in my heart, as
if he was a reasonable being opposing my
wishes, and in the wildness of despair
threw up my arms suddenly and shout
ed with all my strength. Iknew it was
neck or nothing; but my joy was greater
than can express when l saw the tiger
rise and sink into the jungle. He did
this so silently and smoothly that had
to look hard at the place where he had
been to feel assured he was really gone
but then, overcome by emotions I sank
down on the ground, where l remained a
moment or two, wiping the cold sweat
from my brow. Happily, / had my
cigar case and lights in the pockets ofmy
coat; and to reassure myself little /
drew out a cigar, and with trembling fin
gers succeeded in lighting it. In some
circumstances there is nothing like to-
bacco to steady the nerves. Ishould like
to "propose, if it were given me to do
so, with cigar in my mouth; and
should think that pipe must be great
aid to person desirous of borrowing
money from friend. With the smoke
my courage revived, and l even had the
temerity to throw good-sized stone into
the bush where my enemy had disap-
peared. He is gone for good" / said to
myself "and joy go with him." for
there was no response to this insult; and,
the thought lending me renewed vigor, l
stepped out briskly again. "The beast
evidently took me for deer or something
of that sort, and bolted when he heard
the human voice divine. Halloo! as l
live, there he is again."


The cigar dropped from my mouth us
| muttered these last words under my
breath and stood transfixed, as it were,
gazing at the long, stealthy form of the
tiger as he passed across a glade in the
Jungle, walking parallel with me. He
was much closer than before---not twenty
PAGES distant, fancy; and the horrible
thought came icily upon me that he was
keeping me company until a favorable
opportunity offered for spring. Again
l shouted aloud, and again there was no
response. / summoned all the courage
/ could muster, and walked on, keeping
as near to the other side of the path as
the jungle would permit, and peering
cautiously into the bushes as / advanced.
Still no tiger. | had got over another
hundred yards or so, all my nerves strung
to their utmost tension, when again !
beheld that same dreadful form gliding
across moonlit glade. This time saw
the animal so plainly that the marks OH
his skin were plainly discernable, and
though | lost sight of him again i'm a mo-
ment, this sickened me with frightful
apprehension. 1t was evident the ami
NAL was stalking me, and | paused to
cOnsiderw what was to be done. Toreturn
was as bad as to stand still, and yet to go
on looked very much like tempting fate.
Nowhere was there a tree / could climb
for safety. The bamboos grew in thick
clumps, with so much underground
about their stems as to render it hopeless
to try to penetrate it without making
much noise at the attempt, and | felt
that such noise would be i'm the highest
degree dangerous under the circumstan-
ces. might run at my best pace ahead,
and for moment / thought of doing so
but then, again, the tiger could easily
outstrip me, and would not running en-
courage him to follow? There was moth
ing for it but to walk Oh as / had been
doing, and accordingly, affecting cOur-
age | was far from feeling, | went on my
way. Icould hear nothing as | walked
but the sound of my own footsteps and
the faint rusting of the leaves in the bam-
bOos overhead; but this silence Of the
night only rendered the occasional
glimpses caught of my terrible enemy
the more appalling, as he skunk like n
shadow from bush to bush, but always on
a line with me, and as | fancied, nearer
and nearer TO the roadside. do not
know how long this continued. was
i'm that state of mind to take no count
of time, and my only idea was to get
off as fast as possible to the village for
assistance. 1t was just then, and when
/ was plodding along over the ruts and
stones in the path, that | heard, or fam
cied heard, the sound of bearers voices
borne family toward me on the night
breeze. "Hay no! Hi OH Hay oh
Hi oh seemed to be waited to me from
afar like q song of deliverance, and
stopped for moment to be sure my ears
were not deceiving me. At the time,
indeed, was very doubtful whether j
was awake or asleep, sane or insane. 1t
might all be horrible nightmare, and
my CHASTITY companion a mere freak OF
the imagination. / pinched my arm to
make sure | was not dreaming; but L
need not have put my wakefulness to this
test, for there was the tiger, and this
time in front of me. He must have pass
cu WuiiC StoBlVu w istcI oiN nN nv"
lay crouched in the middle Of the path,
about twenty PAGES in front ofme. The
moon was shining very brightly at the
moment, not a cloud near it, and could
distinctly make out every limb of the
animal, even to his tail, which was NOV
ing from side to side with rapid whisk-
ing motion. Instinctively stepped a
few PAGES backward, fully expecting the
tiger to pounce upon me in one or two of
those great bounds peculiar to the ami
NAL; but he did nothing of the sort-he
only sneaked little nearer, his belly
upon the ground, and so stealthily that
l could only tell that he had moved by
his preserving the same distance from me
as before. Not daring to look round, l
stepped back again, halfdead with ter
ror, but supported to some extent by the
cries of the palanquin bearers in the dis
tance, that were now drawing rather
4 Il. A Il. tstsx