Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1890 — FOUGHT IN A JUNGLE. [ARTICLE]

FOUGHT IN A JUNGLE.

New Tork’MaH and Express. Some years ago it was my fortune to be attached to a Englkh cavalry regiment which was ordered to India to take its turn of foreign service. While many of my brother officers grumbled loudly at the change, to me it was agreeable, and although I had an excellent Opportunity to exchange with the home-coming regiment which were to relieve I preferred to remain. The reason for this was that I had a soul-consuming desire to face and kill a tiger and enjoy a share of the other exciting big game hunting to be found tn India. Shortly after our arrival in Madras I was attacked by a low fever, and was ordered to the Neilgberry Hills for my health, and this gave me the chance for which I was longing. My distinction was Ootacamund, a place' which is a favorite resort for retired officers and civilians, who pass the evening of their lives amid scenery and in a climate which can no be surpassed. A few days after I arrived I made the acquaintance of a very volu* "blelndividual, wha turned but to be a retired army surgeon and one of the most famous tiger hunters in India. ‘•Low fever,” he said, ‘‘all bosh, my dear fellow. All you want is a thorough rousing. We have plenty of hunting around here. I am going out the •shikar’ (hunt) this week. Come with me and I will show you some sport. I can give you a chance at a bear, pig, neilghan, or tiger. What say you—will you come?” I need hardly say that I accepted my new friend’s offer, and ten days afterward found us encamped about three days’ march from Ootacamund, with all our camp followers, dogs, elephants, and the innumerable paraphernalia necessary for a hunting expedition in India. The spot chosen for otir encampment which formed a species of cul de sac, in which upon our arrival we found a colony of Totegers, the cave-dwellers or troglodytes of India. Some (.of these we immediately impressed as beaters, and for the first few days had fairly good sport among the smaller game, but there were no sings of tiger. One day, however, one of our shikaris came to us in great excitement. He was a tall, commanding looking man from the country of the Pathans. Walking into my tent, he salaamed profoundly and said, his voice quivering and his eyes flashing with excitement:

‘•Sahib, there’s a tiger not far from here, and I have marked him down. He was in our camp last night. I have seen his footmarks and tracked him to his lair this morning.” While Ram Singh was speaking the I Doctor had come in and stood listening to him, while his frame fairly trembled with a hunter’s ardor. No sooner had the man ended than my excited friend gave a yell loud enough to wake the dead, and the next mo- 1 ment the camp was all in a stir of bustle and preparation. The beaters were collected and dispatched ahead, guns and rifles were quickly overhauled, oiled and loaded; horses were saddled, and in less than an hour we were on our road to the lair of the treacheraus ‘ cat, and before sunset we were en-■ camped within a mile or two of the * spot to which Ram Singh had tracked the brute. Early next morning, under the guidance of one of Ram Singh’s sons, we started for the scene of the encounter, i Silently we wended our way through the dark jungle, pressing through the 1 thick underbrysh saturated with the ‘ heavy dew of the previous night Troops of monkeys followed us, lenping from tree top to tree tqp, throwihgTfaiiiaTuls of leaves and twigs down, upon our heads until we were thoroughly tempted to disperse them by a few well aimed bullets; but we were after tigers, and monkeys would not suit us, and the brutes continued I their jabbering and their pelting. At length, after a long and fatiguing march, we came to a sort of natural) clearing, where we halted and Ram Singh joined us, “Well, have you found the tiger?” exclaimed the Doctor. “Bhot abjtcha, sahib,” (all right, sir), was the reply. “He is not more than a mi.e from here, and the beaters are driving him up.” He then placed us in the positions which we were to occupy—the Doctor in a clump of tamarind bushes, while I was posted in a peepul tree, with 1 strict instructions not to make the' slightest noise, and above all, not to smoke. There we remained hour after hour. The sun rose high in the heavens, i and its rays beat down so fiercely that ! the touch of the rifle barrels was pain- j ful to the fingers. We-sat in our respective positions listening with ; strained intentness for the slightest) sound. The heat grew so intense as i to be unbearable. At length, and jus ; as my patience was about exhausted. It heard the shouts of the beaters apparently within half a mile, and the next minute Ram Singh bounded into tbe clearing. “Bagh, bagh! chuprav” (a tige-, a tiger, be silent) he said. ••He is coming fast. Be ready for. him. Be ready for him.” The next moment the shikari dis- '; appeared in the tall, rough grass with ) a noiseless step, and we waited another quarter of an hour, eagerly scouring the jungle and listening to the shouts of the beaters, now drawing nearer and nearer every moment. At Lngth.l saw the tall grass directly in front of me move quietly. It could not be the wind, for there was none stirring. My pulse beat madly and tjjq blood rushed to my head with a surge which almost blinded me. With a resollite effort I conquered my excitement. Yes, the grass was moving, and' m I look-d I saw for a fleeting mo- 1 meat a black and tawny body crouching fiat-in the graee and caught the

gleam of fiery, flashing eyes and the outline of a flat, wicked-looking head. The next moment, with a roar which made the jungle ring, a mag* nificent tiger leaped into the middle of the clearing, lashing his sides with his tail, glaring first at the Doctor and then at me. as if uncertain which tc attack first. We did not give hitn much time for deliberation, however, for both out riflee cracked simultaneously, and J plainly heard the clip of a bullet as for a moment the savage brute fell disabled to the - ground. While we were reloading he crawled back into the undergrowth and disappeared. Al this juncture Ram Singh and his beaters, having heard the shots, came upon the scene. “Where is he,sahib; did you hit him! Ha! yes; blood upon the ground,” sat'd the keen eyed old Nimrod, glancing at the tiger’s tracks. “Let us follow him, ” said the Doctor. • *He can’t have gone very far. I too was anxious to see him again, but our shikari would net hear it for a longtime, urging t&at it was madness to follow a wounded tiger in a thick jungle. The event proved that they were right. —However, we overruled Ram Singh, and despite his entreaties and even tears, advanced cautiously into the thick tangle of un* dergrowth into which the wounded beast had crept For more than a mile we crept silently forward, followed at a safe distance by the crowd of natives, but could find no trace of the tiger. The spots of blood had ceased, and it was only by the trampled grass and broken twigs that we could tell we were on the right track. At length we heard a sound close by which sent the blood from every cheek, and brought us to a sudden halt, It was the roar of the tiger in close vicinity. Instinctively we threw our rifles forward as we halted at a pool of blood where the brute had evidently rested for a moment. “Come back; come back,” whispered the Shikari in a tone of agonized entreaty, plucking me by the sleeve. I I shook him off impatiently and looked at the doctor. He commenced: “I think we”—but got no further, for the tiger just then made his spring, landing about six feet in front of us, where he crouched, evidently collecting himself for another spring. Our rifles rang out together, and the fierce brute rolled over in the agonies of death, while the Doctor and I silently hands and inwardly thanked God for our providential escape. The tiger, which was eleven feet in length, proved to be a man eater, and his skin therefore, was mangy and worthless, but I have his claws and teeth as trophies and mementoes of the narrowest, escape from death I have ever experienced, Upon examination of the carcass we found that the right fore paw broken by a bullet at the first volley and this alone made him fail to reach us in his last death leap. As soon as the na» tives were satisfied that their arch foe was dead one of them advanced and begging some matches from roe burned off the tiger’s whiskers, while the others danced around the dead brute, singing the praises of the brave Feringhis and reviling the tiger, his moth- ! er, father, and relatives to the fourth ' gene-ation. When they had tired of this the dead animal was slung on poles and carried - triumphantly into camp, which we reached j ust before sunset. Since then I have shot many tigers, but always from the safe vantage of elephant back. Never have I been foolhardy enough to follow on foot a wounded ' tiger through thick jungle to his lair.