Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1910 — THE LORD OF THE JUNGLE. [ARTICLE]

THE LORD OF THE JUNGLE.

"I have seen a tiger, sitting up a hundred yards from me In the otin'Ught, washing hl® face like a cat, andve a couple of steps Into the shade, and fade away like the Cheshire cat In ‘'Alice in Wonderland;’ but what is more extraordinary is that he can move without some dry leaf or stalk crackling to betray him/’ says a writer in the London Times. "Ofter in a beat in the middle of the hot season the inexperienced sportsman’s heart is in his mouth as he hears the crushing of a dead leaf, the slow, stealthy tread of what seems some heavy animal; but it is only ‘moa,’ the peacock, the first to move ahead of the beaters. Then after a period of strained watering, when the eye can and does detect the move of the tiniest bird, the quiver of a leaf, suddenly, without a sound, th® great beast stands before you. “He does not always case to move quietly, but when he does death is not more silent. "The question of how a white or otherwise abnormally marked tiger can take Its prey Is simplified by the fact that as a general rule the tiger kills at night or at dawn or dusk, and that it is only the cattle-killing tiger who takes his lordly toll of the village cattle by day. “Again, that wonderful voice, th® most mournful sound in captivity, which literally hushes the jungle and fills the twilight with horror, is a powerful aid to him in his hunting. Often I have heard it. The memory of one occasion is as vivid as the moment when it held me spellbound. "I was stalking sambur in the evening in a glade in the forest, when suddenly, from not fifty yards above, me, rang out a long, low, penetrating moan which seemed to fill the jungle with a terrifying thrill, and for a moment made the heart stand still. “The native shikaree, who in spite of Mowgl’s contempt may know something of jungle ways, believes that th® deer, hearing the tiger’s voice, and unable from the reverberating nature of the sound to locate the position of their enemy, stand or lie still, and give him the chance of stalking his prey. "There is probably some truth in this, for unless you are following the tiger and have seen him, it is almost Impossible from the sound alone to tell with any certainty where he is.’*