AN HEROIC GOORKHA.

Bush Advocate, Volume XI, Issue 866, 2 December 1893, Page 5

AN HEROIC GOORKHA.

AN ADVENTtTRE OX THE INDUS. ,^!4,,? ; .;>-..- .'. ~ BY T, C. HARBAUdIf. We had barely unpacked onr camp belongings for a short stay in the tiger district,■which we tad invaded for sport, when we were visited by a lot of Goorkhas— the little men of the foothills. Aal had never seen them before, they were cnrions-looking people to me, with their boyish bodies and dark f aoes. I looked them over from head to foot, not forgetting the kockery— the strange knife each man carried in his belt— and I was at a loss to see how suoh little men could wield so large and fierce-looking a weapon. The blade of the kookery is very thick at the back, but tapers to a razor edge, and the ■weight of the weapon is so great that to simply drop it on the naked arm is enough to drive it to the bone. Our visitors remained several days, giving as- hints as to the best places to look for came, and the habits of the tigers of the Indus. One of our party wag Captain Malott, a young Englishman, who had killed, several tigers in Candahar, and, as a oonßequenoe of success, was rather boastful, and inclined to -underrate theGoorkha and his knife. He ridionled the current stories that a Goorkha will face a tiger when armed with nothing but his kookery. Among the little natives who came to our camp was one named Maladahr. I am not sore that I have, given the correot English of his name, owing to the peouliar manner in ■which he pronounced it; .bat he was " Maladahr to us all the time he remained in camp. Maladahr carried a beautiful kookery, the small hilt of which was tastefully oarved, and the blade was a model of savage workmanship. He was wont to give exhibitions ■with the knife, such as throwing a feather into the air and severing it as it floated down acrpss the upturned edge of the weapon. We looked on amazed, and Malott would turn away, saying that a tiger's throat was harder to get at than a feather dropping slowly. ( ■ One afternoon Malott and I arranged for a fiu&t, and as Maladahr was lounging in camp, I persuaded the captain to let him accompany us. " The Goorkha is not to interfere in any -wav with onr sport, remember that," said. Malott. "I don't want to see any of his jimcraoka, if they are, to spoil oar royal sport, and if he attempts any, we will simply send him back." Maladahr smiled at this. He understood English very well, having served awhile as scout in an Afghan campaign ; hat I oaugh t a meaning glitter of his blank eyes. We took a trail whioh promised to get us to the moat desirable region. Malott was in advance with' his tiger gun, ready for an I emergency, -when I canght sight of. a striped object that flitted before oar faces and vanished where the grass was tallest. Maladahr had seen it, too, and he turned tome with a glance which indicated silence, as he wanted to see how good Malott's eyes were. The captain had not seen the tiger. tor he was looking along the steep sides of the ravine. We proceeded a little further, when all at cnoe Malott stopped and fell back. "The tiger 1" said I, as I turned to \3£aladahr, and at the same time taking from Mm the gun which he had been carrying for me. ■ . .

Sure enough, the tiger was seen slouching through the grass, now and then showing a tawny hide. Malott rtood still, with his hand fit the trigger, looking through his spectacles in search of the game. Suddenly, with a hound whioh for a moment threw all of us off our guard, the animal landed, in full view and turned its face, towards us, es if to challenge our courage. Malott seemed disconcerted by this daring, and for half a second appeared to forget thai he carried a gun in his hands. Tigers, as a rule, do not show tbemseles " Jong in this manner, and aa I stood near IS alott I whispered to him to fire, and give the beast a ballet between the eyes. ".Watt till he turns and shows me his aide,"- said the captain. That instant, as if to oblige him, the tiger turned, with the intention of springing back into the grass, and quick as a flash the rioe . was discharged. Wi expected to see the tiger ' drop, for Malott wag an excellent shot ; but to our surprise the animal bounded baokinto the cover and vanished. A smile passed over Maladahr'a face.' He turned so as not to let Malott see that 'he treated the shot with native derision, and Malott himself stood in Ms tracks, oiiming both himself and the gun. I could perceive that he was so displeased that the next shot would he delivered under the beat of passion, and in all probability ■would effeot nothing. We held a short counoil where we stood, and Malott deolared that he would have another Bhot, if he had to enter the grass and drive the tijer out with the stock of his gun. This would have been foolhardy; but knowing .JJalqtt 'as I did, I did not doubt that he was Hotspur enough to carry the threat into execution. I advised Malott, in as gentle language as I could, to be very careful, as, after all, the tiarer might bo -(rounded. But with a toss of his head he advanced, and shouted to the beast to Bhotv -up and play fair. ■ The next moment a ory from Haladahr told that the' tiger was on our left, and as Malott turned the striped body was seen. The king' of the Induß was slouching away again, and would be loßt if not fired at. The ■tiger, was not over twenty yards from us, and that moment If alott delivered his fire at the gliding figure. It was a qaiok shot, but one of the very kind whioh had gained the young .hunter Home celebrity. ' I heard a roar, and all at once the tiger came into f ull view and crouohed before us all. It was the most magnificent target I had ever Been, and tor half -a-minute eeemed to paralyse Malott by its beauty. We held our breath as he threw the line to nw shoulder and fired straight at the tiger's head, with a quickneSß that astonished me. The shot was followed hy a springing into the air, and it seemed to me that but a single bound carried the tiger to Malott. At any rate, there was a spectacle of man and tiger commingled for an instant, and the animal fell back after striking Malott down.

My fright rendered me powerless to aid ilalott, who might be dead for all we knew ; and when I saw the wiry little figure of Maladahr spring past me, I fanoied that he was going to his death for the purpose of letting me recover and deliver my Bhot at point-blank range. The young captain raised himself as Maladahr rushed past him. Armed only -with his Jaufe, the httle native planted himself within a few feet of the tigar, to whom ho culled in tones of derision All this seemed a dream to me. as I looked m with my nerves unstrung, and Alalott on the ground with, as we afterwards found a broken limb. Malott called to Maladahr to como bick and let him have another shot at the tiger; but this was the last thing the Goorkha thought of doing. • It was evident that the tiger wanted Malott more than the little man standing there with the coolness of a Thng. For some time man and beaet faced one another m tne grass, the eyes of thflmad beast blinking in the sunlight, and the Wade of the Goorkha gleaming in the same as he held it peculiarly near his arm, and waited for the leap.

Seconds seem hours in the lives of some men, and it was thus with us. Malott tried to reach his rifle, whioh lay afewfeetaway. but his strength failed him, and be fell baok jnst as the tiger, with a roar that seemed to shake the earth, sprang up and leaped at Maladahr. r

I expected to see the little man struck dead by a blow of the powerful paw, and then find the tiger upon Alalott again, sinking its teeth and finishing the battle. ThcfGoorkfaa stood directly in front of the tiger. , His small figure eoaroely overlooked * £??? ?° etc {t was lon ßest, and the formidable knife eeemed too heavy for him to me with much dexterity. ,He met Mbha tiger's charge, with the cool I

ness whioh ever characterises the people of the Indus foothills. Just when I looked to see hin^ strioken down by one of the terrible paws, he leaped,, to ono Bide, and the sharp razor edge of the kookery came do 1 wn across that very paw.

A howl of rage and pain poured from the tiger's throat as the member, almost cut in twain, dangled from its tendons. Maladahr had delivered his blow while the tiger was passing him, and the howling brute could not check its course.

The instant it did land, some distance from the Goorkha and almost upon Malott, the beast turned for a renewal of the conflict. In the excitement of the moment I cried to Maladahr to run and escape, but at that very instant the tiger's body was again in midair.

This time death seemed to mark the little Goorkha for its own ; but what I saw convinced me that man oan be as active as the most agile of the oat family. Maladahr had turned with the tiger, and was ready. He stood on the side of the disabled paw, and as the animal reached him ho sprang a step from the line and delivered a blow 011 the spine. All seemed over the instant the keen-edced weapon touched the skin.

With a half-suppresaed roar the tiger dropped, an inert mass, at the feet of the little man, and Maladahr turned away as he ooolly wiped the kookery on his sleeve. ' It was a ooup which held us spellbound for some time.

■ That a little man like Maladahr should kill a tiger so easily was simply marvellous, and neither Malott nor' I would have believed it possible if we had not sees the blow delivered.

. After the tiger's death, Maladahr and I made a litter for Malott and got him back to camp, where he lay for three weeks before he was able to set foot to the ground.

After' his recovery his opinion of tho Goorkhas underwent a obange. He never forgot the terrible work of the little native's kookery.— " "Weekly Budget."