Wild Beasts and Their Ways - Sir Samuel White Baker (best romantic novels in english txt) 📗

cage; in this the driver was seated, while Mr. Duff himself sat with his face towards the rear, prepared to fire through the bars should the tiger, according to its custom, attack the driver of the rearmost cart. This would have been an exciting moment for the driver, but Mr. Duff had carefully prepared a dummy, dressed exactly to personate the usual native carter; the bullocks, being well trained, would follow closely in the rear of the leading cart, from which a splendid shot would be obtained should the tiger venture upon an attack.

All went well; the road was desolate, bordered by jungle upon one side, and wild grass-land upon the other. They had now reached the locality where the dreaded danger lay, and slowly the carts moved along the road in their usual apathetic manner. This must have been an exciting moment, and Mr. Duff was no doubt thoroughly on the lookout. Suddenly there was a roar; a large tiger bounded from the jungle, and with extraordinary quickness seized the dummy driver from his seat upon the rearmost cart, and dragged the unresisting victim towards the jungle!

Nothing could have been better planned, but one chance had been forgotten, which was necessary to success. No sooner had the tiger roared, and bounded upon the cart, than the affrighted bullocks, terrified by the dreadful sound, at once stampeded off the road, and went full gallop across country, followed by Mr. Duff's bullocks in the wildest panic. It was impossible to fire, and after a few seconds of desperate chariot race, both carts capsized among the numerous small nullahs of the broken ground, where bullocks and vehicles lay in superlative confusion; the victorious man-eater was left to enjoy rather a dry meal of a straw-stuffed carter, instead of a juicy native which he had expected.

This was a disappointment to all parties concerned, except the dummy driver, who was of course unmoved by the failure of the arrangement.

The story is thoroughly authenticated, and has been told to me by the Commissioner of the district exactly as I have described it. The tiger was subsequently killed by a native shikari, when watching from a tree over a tied buffalo.

Although the tiger as a "man-eater" is a terrible scourge, and frequently inflicts incredible loss upon the population of a district, there are tigers in existence which would never attack a human being, although they exist upon the cattle of the villages, and have every opportunity of seizing women and children in their immediate neighbourhood. About nine years ago there was a well-known animal of this character at a place called Bhundra in the Jubbulpur district, which was supposed to have killed upwards of 500 of the natives' cattle. This was a peculiarly large tiger, but so harmless to man that he was regarded merely in the light of a cattle-lifter, and neither woman nor child dreaded its appearance. The natives assured me that during fourteen years it had been the common object of pursuit, both by officers, civilians, and by their own shikaris, but as the tiger was possessed by the devil it was quite impossible to destroy it. This possession by an evil spirit is a common belief, and in this instance the people spoke of it as a matter of course that admitted of no argument; they assured me that the tiger was frequently met by the natives, and that it invariably passed them in a friendly manner without the slightest demonstration of hostility, but that it took away a cow or bullock in the most regular manner every fourth day. It varied its attentions, and having killed a few head of cattle belonging to one village, it would change the locality for a week or two, and, take toll from those within a radius of four or five miles, always returning to the same haunts, and occupying or laying up in the same jungle. The great peculiarity of this particular tiger consisted in the extreme contempt for fire-arms: it exposed itself almost without exception when driven by a line of beaters, and when shot at it simply escaped, only to reappear upon the following day. I was informed that everybody that had gone after it had obtained a shot, but bullets were of no use against a devil, therefore it was always missed.

I was 30 miles distant when I heard of this tiger, and I immediately directed our course towards Bhundra. It was a pretty and interesting place, where the presence of rich hematite iron ore has from time immemorial induced a settlement of smelters. There are jungle-covered low hills upon which large trees are growing, yet all such important mounds are composed of refuse from furnaces, which were worked some hundred years ago.

We arrived there early in May during the hottest season, and the clear stream below the village, rushing over a rocky bed, was a sufficient attraction to entice the animals from a great distance. This would account for the permanent residence of tigers.

The headman was a Thakur, a person of importance, and, as our camp had been sent forward on the previous day, we found everything in readiness upon our arrival; the Thakur and his people were in attendance.

After the usual salutations, I inquired concerning the celebrated tiger: " How long was it since it had been heard of?"

The Thakur placidly inquired of our attendant, and I was informed that three days had elapsed since it killed the last cow; it would therefore in all probability kill another animal to-morrow. There was no excitement visible, but the natives spoke of the tiger as coolly and as unconcernedly as though it had been the postman.

My shikari was present, and I ordered him to tie up a good large buffalo, in prime condition, as the tiger was in the habit of selecting the best cattle for attack. After some delay, an excellent buffalo was brought for inspection, about sixteen months old, in fine condition, and there was little doubt that the tiger would attack, as the period had arrived when they might expect a kill.

The Thakur knew the exact position for the buffalo as bait, and he coolly assured me that the tiger would certainly kill, and that on the following day I should as certainly get a shot, but that the bullet would either fall from the hide, or in some way miss the object. He declared that upon several occasions he had himself obtained a shot, like everybody else, but it was useless, therefore he had long since ceased to take the trouble. This was rather interesting, and added to the excitement.

At daybreak on the following morning my eager shikari with several natives arrived, with news that the buffalo was killed and dragged into a dry bed of a rocky nullah within the jungle; and from the high bank they had seen the tiger devouring the hind-quarters. This was satisfactory, although I was afraid that the tiger might have been disturbed by the inquisitiveness of the people; however, they laughed at the suggestion, and the beaters being ready, we sallied out to make a drive for a hopeless beast that was possessed by the devil.

The natives had been accustomed for so many years to act as beaters for this well-known animal that they had not the slightest nervousness; they knew the ground thoroughly, and the old mucharns, which had been vainly occupied so often, had simply been strengthened, but were ready in their original positions.

We had a large force of men, and several shikaris of long experience in the locality; it was accordingly a wise course to remain silent, as the people would have been confused by unnecessary orders.

Having left the line of men in position, we were taken about a mile in advance. I had given my shikari a double-barrelled gun, and I ordered him to take his stand as instructed by the natives; he accordingly disappeared, I knew not where. We entered the jungle, and presently descended the face of a small hill; then crossing a nullah, I was introduced to my mucharn; this was arranged upon a large tree which grew exactly upon the margin, and commanded not only the deep nullah beneath, but two other smaller nullahs which it met at right angles only a few paces distant. This looked well, as the tiger would probably slink along these secluded watercourses, in which case I should obtain a splendid shot. I climbed from the back of my steady elephant into the lofty perch; the people and animals left me to watch, squatted in a most uncomfortable position, as at that time I had not invented my charming turnstool.

At least an hour passed before I even heard the beaters. At length, amidst the cooing of countless doves, I detected the distant thud, thud of a tom-tom, and then the confused sound of many excited voices.

A few peacocks ran across the nullah; then a small jungle-sheep made the dead leaves rattle as it dashed wildly past; and almost immediately I heard a quick double shot about 200 yards upon my left.

I knew this must be my shikari, Sheik Jhan, and I felt sure that he had missed, as the two shots were in such rapid succession. If the first had struck the object, the second would not have been fired so quickly; if the first had missed, the exceeding quickness of the second shot would suggest confusion.

After waiting at least ten minutes without a sound of any animal, I whistled for the elephant, and descending from my post, I rode towards the position of Sheik Jhan.

A crowd of beaters were assembled, some of whom were engaged in searching for the bullets which he had fired, both of which had missed the tiger when within 12 yards' distance, although marching slowly over the sands and rocks in the bed of a large river; the natives were digging with pointed sticks into a grassy mound of sand.

Sheik Jhan described that an immense tiger had quietly passed close to him, but that no doubt it had a devil, as neither bullet had taken the least effect.

This was the customary termination; therefore no other course was left than to return to camp, the result having verified the prediction of the natives.

We now steered direct for the carcase of the buffalo, about 1 1/4 mile distant. Upon our arrival in the rocky bed of a dry river, where the smell of the tiger was extremely strong, we found the remains of the buffalo, a small portion of which had been eaten; I was assured by those who knew the habits of this tiger that it would return during the night, and that upon the following morning we should certainly obtain another shot.

I amused myself during the day by visiting the various smelting furnaces, all of which were upon a small scale, although numerous, and the method pursued was the same which I have found invariable among savage people. This consists in strong bellows worked by hand, the draught being sustained by continual relief of blowers, while the furnaces are constructed of clay, in the centre of which a small hole contains about a bushel of finely broken ore. Some powdered limestone was used as a flux, and the produce of a hard day's work, with five or six men employed, was about 15 lbs. of iron of the finest quality. This was never actually in a fluid molten state, but it was reduced when at white heat to a soft spongy mass resembling half-melted wax; it was then alternately hammered and again subjected to a white heat, until it arrived at the required degree of purity. The fuel was charcoal prepared from