Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/504

458 I was so doing, I heard a slight rustle amongst the long grass behind me. I glanced round, and there, with glaring eyes, and his great tail swaying to and fro, I saw an immense tiger.

“In another moment his spring would have been made. I should have been no more, and our young guest would have been doomed to, God only knows how many more years of frightful solitude!

“My gun was lying by my side. Before I could have stooped to pick it up, the monster would have seized me.

“Pounce saw and comprehended my danger: the heroic bird darted upon my enemy, and so blinded him with his flapping wings, and the fierce blows of his beak, that his spring was checked, and I had time to recover my self-possession. I seized my gun, and fired; and the brute, pierced to the heart, gave one spring, and then rolled over at my feet.

“My enemy was dead; but beside him, alas! lay poor Pounce, crushed and lifeless. One blow of the great beast's paw had struck him down, never to rise again!” Fritz's voice shook as he came to this point; and, after remaining silent for a moment or two, he continued, hurriedly—

“With a sad and desolate feeling at my heart, I buried the faithful bird where he had met his death; and then, unable longer to continue near the spot, I returned to my cajack, and leaving the great tiger lying where he fell, paddled hastily away.

“My thoughts were gloomy. I felt as though, now that my companion was gone, I could no longer continue the voyage. The albatross, I thought, may have flown for hundreds of miles before it reached me. This stranger may be on different shores from these entirely; every stroke of my paddle may be carrying me further from the blazing signal: who knows?

“This feeling of discouragement was not, however, to be of long