CALLING THE TIGERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7607, 17 January 1903, Page 3

CALLING THE TIGERS.

(Botton Globa.) Whether Colonel Ryder, of Her Majesty's 6th, Rationed at Bangalore, India, was robbed by his body servant or by some outsider was a disputed question among the officers of the regiment. The man had served faithfully for a num§er of y«ars, and had always proved himself honest, but yet it was hard to see how any. outsider could have penetrated to the Colonel's bedroom, and stolen the uncut ruby that he had had in his possession for several years, and which was valued at several thousand dollars. The servant protested his innocence vigorously and three or four soldiers of the garrison ; testified- to. having seen a strange native hanging about the Colonel's bungalow, and it seemed an even thing. In 'this emergency, hot-headed and irascible, as j most British officers in India are, the | Ooloqel ordered that his nran be flogged. The native was named Syng Rang. He was a high caste man, far above the average Intelligence, and a flogging meant social. death to him. From thence on even the water-carriers and scavengers would have J I2QEXSE TO BEVH^ AND BEAT HIM. . When Syng Bang was told that unless i tie gave tip the stolen gem he would be beaten, he wept and protested and en- ' treated. When ho found the Colonel obdurate he sent for an old man named Doorunda. The old man came, and said to ihe Colonel:—- --" Syng^Rang ii innocent. If you whip film he must die by hie own hand to wipe out the disgrace. Spare him and I will Bo my best to find the thief who stole your rnby." The Colonel at onoe reasoned that ITooranda was a partner in the theft, and announced that the flogging would take place on the morrow if the gem was not given up. Ib was not restored, and Syng Bang was publicly, whipped, and committed suicide the same evening. \ A» for the old man, he disappeared from •Bangalore, and there were those who /thought h» might have taken the plunder ; For months after the disgrace and death j of Syng Bang, and when, the event wag all but forgotten, the Colonel and four other I officers of the' &h went on a tiger hunt into the footJiffl*; of the Weßtern Ghauts. JDaer h«wJ iota weeks' leave, and they took iwira *hem * -party of about thirty ser- • jrants. ' ■ '■. v ' The season: was an unusually good one for tigew. The heat and I*6 drouflit had toiven all game from the valleys into the hills, and the native* reported more big came than for yeax» before. For a week Wter pitching camp all went well. Three )or -four tigers and a couple of panthers were bagged, and | NOT AN ACCIDENT HAD HAPPENED. i Then one of the; servants reported that W Dooronda had been seen near the camp, land when accosted by one who^knew him Well bad run away. His only object could 'be revenge, but yet the matter was treated lijrhtly. lfc> search was made for him unto! hi presence was reported again, and itben the servants who were sent outbid mot wish to find him. He had ft reputation .of which they stood in fear. • • ■ I After three or four dayi, however, ne ,«ntered camp one day when all the officers End most of the servants were away on the hunt. To one of the syces or grooms he mid - ' "T do not ■wish IJhab harm should came to my ow* kin, but I will destroy the Srfbs root and branch. On the third night 'from thw, «n hour after midnight, you will 'bear me singing behisd those, rocks up itiwre. When you do so you must not lose iSownt to iimbing a- tree. TeU tb»s£o all cithers, *»t **? not * word to j "But .what fe to happen when you £mgf" asked the .groom. **What fc to happen will happen. If \yxiu witb to save your life, do as I tell twill " ■ " i^jvjfch that Doorunda disappeared, to be Men no anore. The groom notified aH the ;«tl*er servants <«s they came in, and then went to .'lbis master with the story. The Trtory 'was passed along to the Colonel, who • wcejvedi it with a sneer, and sent out word that if the old man was caught sight, of again he should be made prisoner and 1 held lor. a flogging. . , ■ ■ . i .If any <*£ tshe'- officers was inclined to iheed the warning, ho gave bo outward -sign of it, but the' servants quietly prepared) to, obey the injunction. At midnight, on the third 1 night, while the white men slept, the dark-skinned' servitors left their camp-firea and mounted into trees^ and : ' REMAINED SILENT AND WATOHJUI.. j • For an hour all around them was quiet and peaceful, and some of them had begun to laugh at their own feaxa, when the shrill, wailing voice of the old man came to them from the rocks. . It was an ancantatioh he wailed out, and he kept it up for ten minute*. . . • . . i j None of the officers awoke. The eer- 1 "rants shivered with fear as the voice continned, and the bosses stamped and! snorted 'and pulkd at their halters. It was strange that men who sleep as lightly as soldiers do should not have been aroused^ but it was so in this' case. i Two or three^minutes after the song ended, the natives looked! down from their perches to see old Doorunda enter camp with as many as » doaen tigers friskiiig around him like so many dogs. He halted before the Colonel's tent, and; stood still for a moment, and) then* clapping fete hands, ho t cried out,: — \ " Now, now, no.w L Now you may rend and tear and kill to the last!" A horrible tragedy followed. The tigers , separated aad-iruihed upon the tents, and in only, one case was a. shot fired. It was all over in five minutes. Two of the horses broke away and escaped, but the others were dragged down. . . : . THB MADDENEDV TIOEES ■prang «b the trees t and raged about, bub offered no harm ( to • the ol<f man in their midst. When all<was over, he quieted them with a whistle, and, standing in the centre ©f the camp, 'he said to the terror-stricken ' 'wea-pi tiie trees above hira;— • "Had the sahib Colonel spared Syng Bang I would have spared him. This is my. vengeance' 'for the wrong that was done . an innocent man. To-morrow you will go back to Bangalore and tell them I brought ;-,". it about. I am sorry for the sahibs who <. were innocent, but they were, here «fcrith the .'/guilty, and could not be separated." When morning came, the natives headed for Bangalore, and the tale they told on , striving there appeared so incredible that •il, were locked up until it could be investigated. It was foundi true to a word. >-i ' f -Jbtti wihen. an innocent man had been L ; disgraced and driven to death, and five offi;cers had been torn to pieces by savage • : 3^i»sts, those who overhauled . the dead ; QoiboeJ's effects discovered the ruby in a. ; box to which he had changed it for greater flsietz and forjEottcn the. ciccumstances.