In the tiger's lair

by Leo E. Miller

“We’ll do that. Last of all is the proposition of having Quizquiz on our hands. But we can come to no decision about him just now. Time may make a difference in the attitude we should assume toward him. We must be perfectly fair and see that no injustice is done any one.”

“That seems to answer the question for the time being. He is our prisoner and we can take our time in deciding what his fate shall be.”

Stanley went back down the ladder and, after a short conversation with Soncco, the latter commanded the soldiers to advance. He then placed himself at the head of the column and led it through the passage into the crater. There, under his direction, they fastened thongs to the legs of the great animals, and after an infinite amount of tugging and panting succeeded in dragging the heavy carcasses out into the valley. Then they built a fire in the far end of the gap, after which Ted and Quizquiz, the latter with a cloth covering his face, came down from the ledge, and while messengers returned to the city for laborers the two Americans examined their prizes, measured them, and made numerous notes upon their appearance. The monsters were terrible even in death. They were the size of a grizzly bear and of a uniformly tawny color. The head and shoulders were massive and showed that the brutes possessed unrivalled strength. A short but thick mane of coarse hair grew on the neck, although it was not so abundant as the mane of a lion. From each side of the mouth protruded a long, curved tooth, sharp and dagger-like. It was these terrible weapons, a foot long, coupled with the powerful claws, that made the tigers so formidable, and enabled them to kill without danger to themselves every denizen of the crater world excepting only the buffaloes, whose safety lay in concerted action. The tail was short and thick.

One of the animals, the one that had fallen from the high ledge, had been so badly mauled that its skin was torn to shreds in numerous places. The other was in perfect condition; it had been struck by five of the twenty shots fired from the machine-gun.

Ted and Stanley lost no time in beginning the preparation of their prizes, after having recorded the necessary observations. At their request Soncco detailed a dozen soldiers to do the work under their direction. The natives were wide-eyed with wonder at sight of the strange creatures, and marvelled over the fact that the Americans had been able to slay them, for, according to their traditions, they were demons that had best be pacified with offerings of victims, and not attacked and vanquished. But so accustomed were they to the rigid discipline of army life that they dared not question the orders that had been given them, and fell to work in a mechanical manner.

While some worked at removing the skins, others began to scrape the bones. When the skins were finally free from the flesh they were stretched on frames of poles and raised to a vertical position. Soon a black speck appeared in the sky, then another, and another, until a score of vultures were circling overhead, drawing constantly nearer and moving their bare heads from side to side as they scanned the ground for the food they had sensed from a distance.

At a word from Soncco the men stepped back a few yards and stood motionless. Then the repulsive birds swooped down and hovering in front of the hides pecked and tore at the particles of flesh that clung to them until they were clean, so that they could dry without spoiling. The skins themselves were not in the least injured by the birds; only the superfluous tissue had been removed, and the men were saved the trouble of scraping and dressing them down.

After that, the bones of both tigers were taken to an ant-hill and buried in the loose mound. In a few days they too would be perfectly clean, and could be taken out and packed for transportation.

“If we had rifles we could make a complete collection of all the species in the crater,” Ted exclaimed. “There is not another one like it in the world.”

“The temptation to do that would be strong, so I am glad we have no rifles.”