Show THE UP MADRAS while silling in tho depot at jooa onu afternoon in conversation with the station agent freight no 13 from madras came on to alic sliding opposite tu wait or the bombay express to pasa attached to tho long train of rico cara were several flats some with 1 l daks on them others with palan quins and on tho a very odd looking object which at attracted our tho moio thai thora to bo a man inside it 1 l abat have you pot on that falese iny friend tho agent called out to alic conductor of the freight youve got mo now that official a laugh 1 nondescript 10 on it killed tu odian walk up and sec for yourselves gentlemen that is tho shipper inside name zoom by trado a killar batou wont find him talkative alio nondescript was a round cage like structure some twelve feet iu diameter by six or seven in height alie bottom was of heavy black timber and the hat top of the same but not quite 03 knaive the sides were of thick straight brown bamboo rods or bars set upright like stanchions in tho black bed pieces with spaces betwixt them four or live inches wide in short it was a heavy round cage made years and years ago ami of curious workmanship but the old native inside it was a still curiosity ho was arrayed in a airty blue cotton frock and drawers or of the his feet acro bare such feet they were so shrunken and bony aud of such shiny wine brown hue ns to give one the idea that they had been over a slow fire the man was bareheaded bare headed loo and what is bot common among Hin doos his haar thin and in part gray was braided iu n cue doimi his back tho tightness of the skin across liis to his countenance a lv expression hardly relieved by the dull black eyes and coarse eyebrows tho lower part of liis faco was curiously marked i still coarser crinkled hairs too scattering to bo a buard liis general complexion was like an i old walnut fruin tho elbow down liis arms were bare and they seemed mere parcels of bone ind sinew bound lightly up in sun dried hide while his lean fingers liko claws terminated in nails an or more long indeed in the matter of personal appearance pe arance mr beeler zoom was ono of the strangest numan beings I 1 have over chanced to in any country set against the side of the cage were two short or lances live or six feet in with handles of some black wood and thin sharp slender points of bright steel which shone like silver these blades or points were of themselves nearly or quite two feet long altogether very ugly looking implements clements ts I 1 did not find him at all tic he eat on a cano stool with his back to tho bars of the cage and solaced the fatigues of liis journey with an buor pipe my knowledge of hindustani was not to make much impression on him at first A few stolid responses were all eliat I 1 could elicit from him he said or rather admitted that he was going to odian to kill a tiger anil that killing man buting tigers was liis business 1 itty rupees was his arico lor killing a dangerous tiger he had made this his business for tweel years since hie war I 1 felt very curious to know how tho old man hunted and asked permission to go up to odian and participate in the hunt to this request ho majo no reply tor awhile but upon my urging it several times at length said the sat can suit himself just then the whistled in and as soon as it bad passed the freight and with it old and his cae moved on late in the afternoon after my duties on the section were oica for the day I 1 went up on the way freight to Yuloo taking my remington carbine and a stock of cartridges it was ono of choso little hindmo vil lagas of perhaps two hundred souls where tho ocic persecuted by a tiger a state of things hard to of in america but in india where buddhism prevails to some extent it is contrary to religion to oca and snakes ordinarily arc not dangerous to the people aul sometimes one will get a taste of human blood forward such a tiger will subsist on nothing save mans llesh it it can by any boldness obtain it and making its lair in abo thickets on the outskirts of bome little hamlet it will prey on the poor people till some english officer or soma professional tiger killer like old geeter comes aud slaughters it it will thus be seon how tiger killing can come to bo a kind of trade in india it was dusk when I 1 got off at yuloo the aboul said eliat old had arrived at three his cage and that a baily of natives with a bullock team had driven it oil to the village half a mile away thither 1 proceeded nn foot and abouo nono of alio llio natives were astir tho huts were all and dark the people had themselves up at twilight for tear of the tiger for tho savage boast now for several aoka bad been to enter alio hamlet at night prowling around as it pleased twice it seized persons within very door but by dint of knocking and shout ins I 1 learned where alic old slayer had located his cage 1 had only to fol low alio street or rathor path leading through alic hamlet ind out at a gak into alio country beyond no on would forth at aliis hour ti guide rue but alio distance was noi more llian throe hundred tho gate in the inclosing alio hamlet aud 1 camo upun tho cadt after a few il was set on lh ground in the ghigli clie gross 1 few paces from alic jungles and thorn thick ets which skirted n barkee creek feeling a little uncertain as to how old vcctor might receive nie or how he might act if 1 camo upon him by surprise I 1 called out god be youl several times in hindustani I 1 did not wish him to mistake luo foi 1 tiger by any means perhaps I 1 callcut more loudly alini I 1 dmd have done god be with you responded thu old mania a low tone but it was with nu inflection an d emphasis not in tho least ia keeping with words I 1 ventured to draw higher however old waa in hia cago silling silent and on the lookout look out like a spider in his don the cage WM bis place of as might say after somo pailey I 1 was admitted through alitalo trapdoor trap door in tho top which liia securely buttoned don aaen but my reception was a most ungracious one ilo grumbled ominously m tho native of my disturbing alio night and breaking liis spell besides our two selves in alio cage was tho carcass of n goal to attract tho tiger hour after hour of the damp warm dark night Q sal crouched motionless there old geeter neither nor moved but I 1 could hear him breathe wo heard a short querulous roar which I 1 supposed to bo thai of a tiger at a distance but no tiger camo near day broke at last anil when it hid grown fairly light we got out and went lo 10 alio vil Liiro where alie people had now begun cautiously to look forth from their doors several asserted that they had seen and heard tho agar about the hamlet during tho hours of darkness I 1 went back down to jooa on tho early morning mail from bombay for my duties did not admit of my bc aug absent a day but I 1 arranged with old to join him again eliat night I 1 may as well contola eliat I 1 biad to win his consent by a of a few rupees As I 1 thought method of tiger killing it occurred to me that I 1 could improve upon it during mr anco as a currii in brazil I 1 biad often on my weekly journeys made use of a birdcall bird call for wayside and I 1 avd eliat identical old in my chest my first plan was to imitator the bleating of a kal with it thinking thus to attract the tiger but i after a few trials that this was a tiger with a taste for human elesli I 1 began lo 10 counterfeit alic crying of 1 child I 1 found no very matter when once I 1 liall got tho right key for it 16 iid nothing to uld of my trick when I 1 readied odian that evening but joined him as before alio night was very still several times alic weird cry of a devotee in alic distant village of came faintly to our card orar mucy milc tho stars shone down a misty luster it was very damp et warm onaca oncca cloud of green sparkling arc blics came and drifting in the stout bars of alio cage fairly lighted it up glinting liras later 1 dolefully howling pick of jackala jackals swept by us ciglio or ton rushing up to enill alio goals blood midnight drew on and for a long time all was utterly silent save thai an bleu shrilly limes imp itie stamping its sharp hoofs on the dr duif then come a sound now strange and terribly realistic in this old land of an progressive race with a ponderous roar and widespread wide spread jar and tremor of tho staid old soil n lurid red flashing of liot doors and the belching out of lire lit steam ami smoke alio long heavily loaded freight no 17 from madras went past for miles and miles its thunderous forceful rush and the echoes of its peremptory whistle and loud bell were borno back to us kv nocturnal mystery and old time legend and superstition up by the silence and darkness seemed shivered by it it was nu leour arc old india and night had again regained possession of themselves round 1 ulo odian then more like a wall from dead misguided millions camo the melancholy cry of alio devotee in liis solitary and painful vigil and not long after wo heard alio llio grull buirk or grunt of a prowling tiger from across the eliat I 1 softly drow out my call and began crying and sobbing like a child in distress old gecler started and uttered a low exclamation then as quickly divining my botic he sat down again in liis former listening posture several times I 1 imitated thu cry of hindmo children maumin maumau maumau then sobbed on as some little one lost in iho jungle might do presently my whispered hush beesie Bee sif harkit zo hush the beast hears I 1 had beard nothing and continued to hear not a sound but the old native was grasping one of liis spears crouching on his kacos every muscle braced civo or ten minutes passed I 1 fancied the old mans ars were hardly so sharp as lie thought them but on a sudden a low eager as when some carnivorous beast scents a gory morsel broke iho stillness looking intently through alic darkness in eliat direction I 1 espied two hashing arbs orbs in the high grass slowly stealthily and willi scarcely a of the dry stalks green tinted licary eyes were coming nearer alic carcass of tho goat was hung up against hie cage bars inside it when twelve or fifteen yards tho creature seemed bound from out alia grass the side ol 01 abo cage uttering a low growl the cage rocked violently I 1 was thrown to one side but old belter prepared tor the shock than I 1 kept his crouching position and as the clugg growling aud tearing at the carcass hu thrust out his spear giving it a slight wound astonished at the sharp prick the great brute bounded oft to one side then with a savage roar sprang against the cage agibin its eyes growling horribly the picture of venomous wrath the air vas stilling il musky breath it wrenched and torf at the cago its claws tin bamboo bars sprung fright fully but aliis was tho chauca old lidd waited for before I 1 could tak aim or fire all his force driving that long acuto lance point out betwixt the bara deep into alio tigers exposed breast with a agonized cry strangely in contra contrast st with its deep bass crowland cro roar aliu beast leaped backwards to tho ground it was the animals mortal cry and I 1 never saw a more fearful death struggle time and again it bounded high up into the nir tumbling heavily down only tu leap upward again its frightfully hideous cries have been heard n league oft it have been sonic minutes cro death baias nor did wo venture forth till it lay limp and daylight showed it to be a very sleek yellow and black mottled tiger of alio llio largest size it had fattened on human llesh not less than persons including children had been its victims during the month it had beset the village I 1 remained to seo tho people of the hamlet come out at to exalt over alio llio karacha ka they performed a kind of thanksgiving dance old gecler remained with them to collect his I 1 presume TV 6 days later I 1 saw him past jooa in his cago on a freight train he looked as grim as ever companion |