A NARROW ESCAPE.
"I once had a narrow escape from a tiger that I had been pursuing and wounded with a couple of balls. It was among some low hills about fifty miles from here, and there was very little forest in that part of the country. We were following him, and had come to a halt for a few moments in consequence of losing the trail; I was separated from the rest of the party, with only my gun-bearer near, when suddenly the tiger came bounding out of the forest and making directly for me. There was no chance of running, and my only dependence was on my rifle. I raised it and fired, and luckily enough hit him in the mouth and sent the ball crashing through his skull. He fell dead, and was not two yards from my feet as he struck the ground. It was one of the narrowest escapes I ever had."
Frank asked what was the length and weight of the largest tigers killed in India.
"As to that," answered the captain, "there is considerable dispute. I have shot twenty-one tigers, and kept a careful record of the measurements, which I always took myself; and if an Englishman was present I had him go over the figures and apply the tape-line, to make sure I was correct. The average length of my tigers is nine feet seven and a half inches. The longest one I ever shot measured eleven feet and seven inches, and the longest I ever knew anybody to kill measured twelve feet six inches. I have heard on good authority of several tigers over twelve feet, and two of exactly twelve feet; but I have grave doubts of thirteen-foot tigers, and still graver ones of fourteen-footers. As to the weight I cannot speak, as I never saw a tiger weighed, but they are very heavy in proportion to their size. They are all muscles and sinews, and in an old tiger the work of cutting through the tendons and muscles of the leg is like dissecting a section of wire cable. He hasn't an ounce of fat, and his body when stripped of the skin forms the finest anatomical specimen you can imagine. The sinews will turn the edge of the hardest knife. Dissect a powerful bull side by side with a tiger, and the bull will appear as flabby and boneless as a jelly-fish by comparison with the other beast.
"I once saw a fight between a tiger and crocodile. It was on the bank of the Koosee River, where I had been out stalking antelope, and had sat down for a few minutes to rest. The river abounds in crocodiles, and, on looking at a little sand-bank close to the opposite shore, I saw several of their snouts just above the surface of the water. While I was thinking about taking a shot at one of them for the sake of practice, I heard a crackling in the bushes, and a huge tiger appeared at the edge of the river not ten yards from the crocodiles. Then I felt sure there would be some excitement.
"The tiger was thirsty and hot, and as he lapped the water he settled nearly half his body into it. Instantly one of the dark snouts moved toward him, but so gently that there was not the least ripple on the surface of the river.
"Within three feet of the tiger the snout disappeared. In an instant it rose again like lightning, the great jaws were opened, and in the same instant the tiger's head was enclosed between them.