THE TIGERS LEAP.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 91, 16 April 1908, Page 3

THE TIGERS LEAP.

EPISODE OF INDIAISfSPOET

1 forgot all about keeping still in my excitement, and was- trying to raise myself higher on the tree up which I had climbed to get a better view, when the grass about fifty yards in front of my tree parted, and an enormous tiger bounded into sight. He was truly a magnificent spectacle, and I held my breath with admiration, he looked so big, so powerful, so gorgeous—a veritable king of the jungle. Blood flowed from a wound in his shoulder and stained the' bright colours, of . his beautiful side: His small ears lay close t*> his head, his lips were drawn back, 'showing rows of terrible teeth, and his tail lashed the air in fury. What attracted his attention to me I do not know;. perhaps he had for a long time past been watching me, himself unseen, and noting my every movement. I cannot say how it happened, but -I suddenly realised that he had caught sight of me and was coming for my tree. / It is impossible to describe the sensations of that moment. I was almost paralysed with .fright, if or : though I had always been told that tigers could noc climb, the beast looked so large and powerful that I felt as if nothing would be beyond him. I gave one despairing glance upwards, but there was no higher branch within my reach, i and with a terrible snarl the tiger ■• bounded to the foot ,of my tree. ! Father's words flashed through my j mind, and I wondered, in a vague sort I of way, how high this particular tiger eouid jump. I was not left long in doubt. With scarcely a pause he sprang upwards, and his deadly claws grazed the bark but six inches from my feet. My terror was so great that I wonder now, on looking back, that I did not: tumble straight from my perch into my enemy's clutchesj but somehow or other I had just sufficient presence of mind left to cling on desperately with both hands while I screamed with all my might. Ihe tiger crouched for a moment to take breath, then, gathering all his strength, he sprang again. This,time he almost succeeded m touching my shoe (I could not draw up my feet for fear of overbalancing myself), and I felt the hot, fetid breath from his mouth fan my face. In a silence which seemed to enforce his determination he prepared for a third spring—a spring which I knew must end fatally for me. All hope seemed to have fled, and I had given myself up for lost, though I still continued to scream feebly, when an answering shout was borne back to me, and I caught the sound of running feet. The tiger heard them too 3 and turned instantly to face his new foe;' and a second later, Teddy, rifle in hand, came into sight. His b«swildejed glance fell on me. From where' he stodd he could not see: the beast, which now started to worm its way slowly towards him, its body nearly touching the ground, and a little track of crimson tracking its course. "It's there,! It's there!" I-cried hysterically, and fortunately he understood what I meant.—E. Hobart Hampton, in the Pall Mall Magazine