Year: 1874




of my own footsteps and the faini


rustling of the leaves in the bamboo:


overhead; but this silence OF the


night only rendered the occasional


glimpses l caught of my terrible


enemy the more appalling, as he


skunk like a shadow from bush to


bush, but always on a line with me,


and as fancied, nearer and nearer to


the roadside. l do not know how


long this continued. l was in that


state of mind to take no count OF


time, and my only idea was to get of


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 fancied l heard, the sound


of bearers voices borne family to-


ward me ON the night breeze. ''Hay


no! Hi oh! Hay oh! Hi ohp' seem


ed to be waited to me from afar like


song of deliverance, and stopped


for a moment to be sure my ears were


not deceiving me. At the time in
deed, was very doubtful whether l


was awake or asleep. sane or insane.


1t might all be horrible nightmare,
and my CHASTITY companion mere
freak of the imagination. Ipinched
my arm to make sure / was not
dreaming; but l Ineed not have put my
wakefulness to this test, for their
was the tiger, and this time in front
of me. He must have passed while
l stopped to listen; and he now lay
crouched in the middle of the path,
about twenty PAGES in front of me.
The moon was shining very brightly
at the moment, not cloud near it,
and l could distinctly make out every
limb of the animal even to his tail,
which was moving from side to side
with a rapid whisking motion. In


stinctively stepped a few PAGES
backward, fully expecting the tiger
to pounce upon me in one or two of
those great bounds peculiar to the
animal; but he did nothing of the
sort-he only sneaked little nearer,
his belly upon the ground, and so
stealthily that 1 could only tell that
he had moved by his preserving the
same distance from me as before.
Not daring to look round, stepped
back again, half-dead with terror, but
supported to some extent by the
cries of the palanquin bearers in the
distance, that were now drawing
closer to me. 1t was a palanquin
coming along the road from PoOre,
and if it came quickly l might be
saved. This was the question;
Would the tiger devour me before it
could arrive, or not. | could not
think about it; my brain swan, and
| believe for moment / must have
been unconscious of anything about
me. The last thing | remember was
an attempt | made to shout, although,
whether l did shout or not, | can not
say, and then / awoke to find myself
in the arms of a stranger, who was
bending over me and holding q flask
to my lips. There was crowd Of
bearers and armed poems standing
around and two palanquins, one of
which was Waldron's. In Il few
words the stranger explained it all.
He was the head assistant to the col
lector of a neighbOring district, and
was travelling on duty from POOre
when he came to the place where poor
Waldron lay out on the road. Lucki-
ly. he had a medicine chest with him,
and was something of q doctor. He
prescribed for my friend on the spot,
and ordered few of his hangers-On
to take up the sick mans palanquin
and follow him. They Travelled at
their best speed or l might not have
lived to tell the tale. The civilian
went on to, tell me that he was reused
the second time by his poems, who
ran ahead, shouting out: ''Bagh,
Bagh" (Tiger, TigerD and by the
commotion among his bearers, who
nearly allowed the palanquin to fall
to the ground. He seized his rifle,
which lay loaded beside him; but
when he jumped out of the palan
quin the tiger was gone, and there
remained in its place, to his great as
tonishment, myself. That a Euro
pean should be found in faint on
such a road and i n such a place was
an enigma to him until l told my
story, when, seeing how fatigued and
excited l was, he insisted on my get
ting into his palanquin while he walk
ed along side of it. My own palan.
quin / should say, was being brought
slowly after us by two or three OF my
new friends numerous retainers.


There is little more to tell. We
all three duly arrived. at the bunga-
low, Waldron in a profound sleep,
from which he awoke next morning
much better in health.


Whether the narcotic he had taken
was cure for cholera, or his attack
was slight one l cannot say, but
certainly he was as fit to travel next
day as / was myself Perhaps | was
the greater invalid of the two, for
was suffering from fever, brought ON,
no doubt, by the fatigue and excite
mentof the previous night. However,
this cholera-stricken village was no
place to stay in, and Waldron and
determined to go on to PoOree at
once, and this time by daylight.
Thanks to the official importance of
our civilian friend, we had no diff
Guilty this time in procuring bearers,
and about one o'clock in the day we
returned over that terrible road, that
must ever leave vivid impression on
my memory, without further adven-
ture. The civilian was bound IN the
other direction; but he told me he
would be in that part of the country
again in a few weeks, and we would
certainly beat up my friend, the IL
ger. And long afterward--after we
had left Pooree, and were busy with
the parade and drills of regimental