A Night with a Tiger.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, 11 February 1890, Page 3

A Night with a Tiger.

+ + K Thftre were two en' ranees to the drawing-room this must be borne in mind. The house itself was old-fashioned, a lw?g» a«d mauy gabled on«, standing quite alone and aoltary in a

•a.ious garden ; all the windows 1 ad been closed and tho jalousies 3hut and secured froro tlie outside ; the tatty-grass blinds on the piazza .'aacl been rolled up and put away ■ '11 another hlazing morning called i >t their refr shing. shade. < The locality was near tlmt part of iho delta called the fuhderbunds, through which the Ganges expands i s branch- 8 as it approaches the sea j — a labyrinth gi cheeks and rivers, of jungle and stagnant water. • ' The night wa.s perfectly line, but moonless ; there was a heavy dew which in l3%^ntri«pl& a *£OTseelly natural occurrence. I wont into the drawing-room by what may be called tlie back door, as it led into tha back drawing-room and smaller, . one ' of the two j the other, a ftir tni'ger nparfcnierit, com; inunicated with' this one' by great folding doors of gold and white. The back drawing-rqony „vfas very full of furniture, rather 'inconveniently so. As I was carrying an armful ot! hooks, a-d in my disengaged hand a lamp, I proceeded with tolerable security, though slowly, but then of course I knew the room, and eou ! d have gone to my d- stination in the dark. What struck me as both curious and' irritative was the faDcy that the room seamed more impeded than ever with "'the furniture,, that had been made to match the grand piano. The various articles-.lqoked as if they had been dragged, about the- room. Possib'y the "darkness above and around me helped the illusion.; anyway they had the appearance of having bee's gradually spread . towards the centre of the room round a heavy and solid table, 1 1t was this table that I wished ..to, go, t0..,-. I: walked very slowly., partly; because I did not wish to spill tlie bookatha^ I'd spent the last hour in collecting/ and partly because of an unaccountably horrible feeling that had corner over me. 'I his part of the house was quite silent : indeed', it was,, often so of an evening. My brother had pa33ecl<nie on#his w«y upstairs,' having fte'eii; all day at Madrepore,* and no doubt being tired had gone to bed. There ware very few stairs at all, as the c pN%^ one storied* *bro, rambling ancl 'full' of angles, having been built* and added to at various times : here and there little staircases streamed' out leading to long passages and unexpected cupboards ; the back drawing room door itself opened fr ma a sido flight of five stairs. As I had encountered two small chairs and an overturned music stand, I stood still for a second, looking for a c-ear passage, and thereby holding the lamp high and well in front ot me ; as I paused amid the complete silence that reiguoil, an immense tiger slowly , crossed tnTpatli of light, turning on me two burning yellow eyes, gleamingiike -yi y id topazes^— l siood. ;tjwre - in stiffened' ttoo'r 'and heardr4iy heart beat— its mouth was loosely parted wide wawgx TfeljSujc i fljf# n &t toe' corners tnaT tne serratel edges 'M the lower lips were plainly visible. It gazed with a steadfast look of such grinning cruelty, such conscious maligni-y, that it hoi& myblood and turned my liiiibs to stone, Thi3 description of sight and feeling was of course the impression <.f one conception condensed by a minutes agony. ' ■-."••• The tiger crossed the India mat£ing'' of tli*e room w'tft a noiseless awiMgiusr' i **jßlf | %s '''ff ftp^afid to have come from tKe obscurity near the piauopatf : tW obscurifcji beyond- -thnt is. outside the pathway of the torita r lfg^t. ." f stoo:l perfectly immovable,- : ' stilj clutching- the bopjgß withmy arm,' still holdiug the' JAmnvbef6re me, still gazing at the place it had crosse3^ and apparently for ever seeing that awful look upon the tigei;'i>; U'pad face. It seemed as if my eyes saw the face, though my mind had rapidly suggested tlie frightful probability that ihe ti?er was behiud me. At the same timoby some dual mental prodess it- wns "holding out hope that tlie animal hail pissed the great fulding db6rs into the dark room boyTJttd. " I have no remeiri brar.o ai ajl of my mind?^dictflt^ng the ne^ixctfon.l piirmeid^w seemed ■just an instinct indulged in by the body upon itajjowa account and -for Its own imme^to,. preserfatipn. " 1 1 r,^ the mind- that wil's ''' say the scientists. . Much confusion has ariseu by the misuse of the term <J£wity-pQ^,f''tlio will, instead of being ns defined by Pro lessor Edwards ' that by which thfe nii^dVthoosesi •■ auythillg," is the irinid'sTfacjjJ,ty jir power, of making effovt to ascertain which of two or mo,''<o thiij|sj| l ß|)i'e'ei:it|jl^ f -i :i J I JnM the bboK-s vu./ oia-.'f.i'iydown witlfent /raliiiig- the.^ff igU*e»t wiineethat i^n^haj-njitoa^yw with '^° JS^i'LKim. tV-^?*W little c^;>lT!r^.a|^£24|p^i^ ; ij»p[ji^flj^ shoiil.'leW*feid" pm fwtyWlfc it oovercrl my hcaffj •s e^'tlfrnt-dVlJiyy fcidew rv *fniftn ri tfftpresse? witli the nexQSjii^v, of keeping tlie. lamp. r.s ynr**T?dsstbio' uehind m : »/ Tiji -• 1 t-ti-'-Jk me •ttt-.tho fiime ; as clever and <■#■ tincjuostioimbl&jinportance in petyl* -j vAkLWK }\°W¥s ■$ ,BWl Qihi I'd bV**a*tf*?^^&ut 3 *tt swor ol nli^lHferj h.QUr.^;^,,;. :.,,