Page:Hunting and trapping stories; a book for boys (IA huntingtrappings00pric).pdf/12

STORIES OF TIGER HUNTING There is something about the name of "Tiger" which holds one spell-bound. Every traveler who has visited any country where these great creatures live comes back well stocked with stories illustrating the beauty, strength, cunning and ferocity of the tiger. Whole books have been written giving descriptions of the royal brute. We will relate a few anecdotes which will give some idea of its life and habits.

A gentleman living in Burmah, who held the position of British district judge, was from time to time much troubled by the depredations made in his section by tigers. This man's duties were numerous; he looked after the irrigation works, settled disputes, kept order among the natives, saw that the mails were properly attended to, and any other odd job that came his way. When a tiger would haunt any of his villages he had to devise means for destroying the pest. Of course, tigers were not a daily occurance, for whole months would go by without news of one.

One morning a woman who had gone down to the river to draw water disappeared. The bucket she carried was found nearly, and in the sand tell-tale foot-prints of an enormous tiger. The news of the killing spread like wildfire, and the village was soon thrown into a panic, for no one knew who would be the next victim. The judge was appealed to and forthwith organized a hunting party. They followed the tracks of the tiger into the jungle, and found the clawed body of the poor native woman, but the slayer was not to be seen anywhere. They hunted all the morning without any luck and returned dishearted to the village at sundown.

The next day a boy and his sister were carried off, and so on for a week or more each day adding another victim to the merciless thief. The village folk dared move from place to place only in strongly armed parties. It is well known that a tiger will seldom attack a band of people unless it is very hungry and there are no men in the party. The situation was becoming desperate. The Judge sent for the Colonel of a neighboring regiment who was an experienced tiger hunter, to advise him. The two consulted as to the best method of destroying the man-eater, for the week's events showed that it was a more than ordinarily clever brute.

After dinner the two men sat out on the veranda smoking and drinking coffee, and while talking the Colonel thought he saw a shadow moving among the bushes. On looking closer for several seconds he became convinced that it was but a trick of the moonlight. A few minutes later, however, he saw the shadow again more distinctly. The servant behind him ceased fanning and both men turned their heads to see the reason. In an instant