A TERRIBLE TIME WITH A TIGER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2400, 1 March 1900, Page 59

A TERRIBLE TIME WITH A TIGER.

As the moon was approaching the full, Aye had a large coav tied up in the Baghsote, a noted tiger resort in amongst a labyrinth of deep ravines and little streams which trickled aAvay under shady creepers. We also had a stout machan built beforehand in a leafy burgot tree, so that there might be no disturbance after the kill took place. The very first night the coav Avas killed, and the pugs Aye found were tho&e of a large tiger, a fact which Avas further evidenced by the Aray in which the strong tethering ropes had been tugged at and almo&t seA r ered. '"'he folloAving afternoon we Avent quietly to the spot and got into our machan as quick!-"- as possible, prepared, if necessary, to spend the night; but stripes did not keep us waiting long, for at about a quarter to seven Aye saw his beautiful red and black lines through the bushes. The tiger, a magnificent male, Avas walking straight down to the kill, but when about 30yds away he suddenly lay cloavu and began looking about him. * Fearing that he had become suspicious and that he might go off, I fired, my bullet hitting his foreleg and breaking it. The tigei immediately began whirling round and round, biting savagely at his broken leg ; so I fired again, this time hitting him in the back, but it did not break it, and, Avitli a terrific roar, he dashed off. We quickly shouted for our elephant, but by the Dime it came it was too dark to foiloAv, so Aye decided to leave him till the morning, and then track him up Avith the daylight to assist us. We started at 5 in the coo.l daAvn, and rode to Baghsote, where the elephant was Avaiting, but we Avent on a little Avay, and did not get on the elephant until Aye arrived at the scene of the previous night's adventure, Avhich Aye reached at about 6. Here Aye found about 100 vultures rending the remains of the kill, all hopping round screaming and fighting ; Aye also say the fresh pugs of a panther, which had probably been eating the cow during the night. We then mounted the elephant, which Avas, unfortunately, only a small pad ess. Our party consisted, besides ourselves, of two chuprassics and four forest guards — eight in all. We proceeded cau-

tiously up the nullah, tracking the tig&j by the dry blood and footprints, till sud' denly we came upon blood on a dry bed 1 of leaves which was quite fresh, and after that the footprints were clearly defined on' the sand and stones by the water which' had dripped from his paws as he crossed 1 and recrossed the little stream. We put all the coolies behind the elephant and moved slowly up the nullah, which began to get narrower, feeling that the tiger was not very far ahead. At last we came to a place where .the karounda bushes grew so thickly over the water that the elephant could advance no further, and we came to a standstill. After a little discussion -we sent two coolies to the top of the ridge to our right, with orders to reconnoitre and report if they saw anything of the tiger. However, they Avere so long away that we grew tired of inaction, and got down from the elephant and began scrambling up the hill on our left. It was difficult climbing, as the pebbles rolled clown from under our feet, and we had nothing but little tufts of grass to catch hold of, but we got to the top of the ridge and walked along, with a precipice on our left and a steep slope into the nullah on our right. We could .see little of the latter, as it was fringed with creepers and bushes, but the other side rose up precipitously, and we could see one or two of the coolies over there. We scrambled along a ledge, and then took up a position which would command the upper end of the nullah, and as we thought the tiger was lying somewhere between us and where we had left the elephant, we got the meu on the opposite ■ ridge to throw down stones, in the hopes of driving him up to us.

Suddenly we heard a man shouting that he had heard the tiger growl a short distance from where the elephant was. This was a lame man with a stiff leg, whom wo will call the Lungra, and he was trying to make us understand that the tiger was in the nullah. We then heard the tiger growl twice, after which all was quiet except for the noise made by the stones that were being rolled clown to drive him out. At last everyone got tired of throwing stones, and we thought the tiger musfc be dead, so we turned back to where he had been heard. We had just got the coolies up into trees to watcji the- nullah when suddenly there was a yell, followed by a succession of terrific . roars, and then a lightning charge up our slope. The Lungra had got out of a big tree into a smaller one ip the nullah, where the tiger spotted him, and was on to him in one bound. Getting up on its hind legs, it seized the man's leg with its teeth, and stripped the entire flesh from the bone, all the time roaring furiously. As the' tiger rose I fired and lodged a bullet in his throat, followed by a second, which pierced his heart, and then the brute rolled over backwards.. Two or three minutes afterwards the unhappy victim fell out of the tree dead, and rolled down by the side of. the tiger. The great artery in his ' leg had been severed, and in a very short time he bled to death. Had the tiger not stopped to maul the man we should have had a bad time of it.

It was the work of an instant almost, but it was a frightful experience. It was a curious fact that, when found, the tiger and man were lying close together, their faces touching, with the tiger's paw on the man and the latier's arm on the tiger, as if they were dear friends. The tiger, whose skin and skull I now possess, was one of the finest males I have ever seen, with an immense breadth of chest and massive forearm.—C. C. R. M., in the Field.