A MAX WOLF A Story of the Indian Jungles. STRENGTH OF THE BRUTE. His Fight With a Hyena-How the Creature was Captured and Killed.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 313, 3 November 1888, Page 5

A MAX WOLF A Story of the Indian Jungles. STRENGTH OF THE BRUTE. His Fight With a Hyena- How the Creature was Captured and Killed.

While with the animal hunters in the jungles and foothills to the North of Benares, we heard of a man wolf. On two former occasions we had received like reporfcs, but had given libble attention to them. The superstitious natives of India have many strange beliefs. One of them is that a brother who has murdered a brother turns into a man wolf, and runs the jungles 100 years as a penance. While they hold tnis animal in fear and terror, as well they may, they l-eason that iif he is killed, other members of the family must take his place and serve out the remainder of his sentence. Therefoie, while they would talk to us of these monsters, they were always very careful not to locate them and bring them into danger. We had long before made up our minds that there was nothing so very queer in finding a wild man in the jungles of India. Children are carried off by semiwild men or wild animals almost daily, and oven the civilised countries have their wild men roaming through the forests. We were willing to pay a round sum for tho capture of a man wolf, believing he would torn out to be only a wild man, but at the same time a greater curiosity than a gorilla. We had been making our headquarters in a village for s-evernl days, baiting our traps for hyenas and having- natives on the lookout for serpentt, when one midafternoon I got into a hammock slung between two tree* on the outskiits ot the village and dropped oft to sleep. My two white men were already asleep in hammocks some distance away, and such of the natives a& were not out for us were lying by to pass the heat of the day. There were two or thiee children playing at the door of a hut near me, but making little or no noise. It was as quiet as if a spell had been placed upon everyinhabitant. i had not slept over half an hour when a mosquito bit me on the cheek and started me up. I lay on my right side and through the meshes of the hammock could see the edge of the jungle, about forty rods away. The children were still ab play and wero 100 feet nearer the jungle than I was. Almost as soon as I opened my eyes I saw a dark object leap from the covei of the thicket to the shelter of a single bush on the cleared giound. It looked to me, in the brief grlimpse I had, like a gorilla. I measured the leap aftei ward with a tape-line and it was twenty-three feet. I did not start up, but rubbed my eyes wide open to identity the strange creature. It had cowered until I could see nothing but a black spot, and it was two or three minutes before it moved again. Then it suddenly leaped into view, bounded tor the children exactly as a monkey leaps, and before I could call out, it had seized a little boy about two and a half years old, and was retreating with him. It was on its hind legs, both arms around the child, and running with great swiftness. The body was naked and hairy, but I was convinced that ib was- that; ot a human being. I yelled out and the creature whirled about, raised the child on high, and, with a shriU scream of anger, da&hed it down on the hard - baked earth with tenible force. Then it shook its fist at the villagers swarming out, and dropping down on all fours bounded away into the jungle. We found the child gasping its lash That fling had broken almost every bone in his body. It was not until the villagers were convinced that I had seen the creature and was assured of its identity that the head man acknowledged ib to be a man wolf, and that ib had long been a menace to the localiby. It was, he said, his cousin, who had killed a brother fifteen >ears before. As the creature had now killed three children, against whom it seemed to have a particular spite, and as its presence menaced the safety of the village, he would give bib consent for iv to seek its capture. I helped him to reach this conclusion by a present valued at and by agreeing not to give the matter away in any other village. The first thing to be done was to learn the habits of bhe creature. He was known to meat, roots, barks and almost anything else which came in hi& way. He must ?let-p, but no one could say when, as he had been seen prowling around at all hours of the day and night. He was very strong and fierce, and it was doubted if one of the tiger cages would hold him. We decided to teirpt hi&> curiosity, and to this end one of our cages was placed in the jungle, and the door so arranged as to shut tne creature in if he entered But he took no notice of the curiosity, or if he did it was to fight shy of the suspected trap. Twice in three days he was seen again on the borders of the village, evidently bent on further mischief, and the natives finally found a path which the man wolf used in going and coming from a water hole. As soon as they came in with the news, we started out to set a different trap for him The steel traps to catch wild animals have no teeth, and the jaws come together in a way to give one a leverage on the other. I have known of a full-u;rown tiger being caught by the foot and firmly held by a trap no larger than the boys set for mink and muski-at. We replaced the chain with a half-inch rope made of native grasses, andassoon as a suitable spot had been selected, we excavated a hole, buried the trap out of sight, and then bent down a sapling and tied the end of the rope to it. This sapling was held down b\' a trigger, which a sharp I pull would release. When the trap had been set no eye could detect anything suspicious around the spot, and we felt certain that this creature would eet into trouble if ho passed that way. When we could do no more we letired to the village, about a mile away. It was about sundown when we arrived, and we were just in time to see a wonderful proceeding. A large and savage-looking hyena came out of the jungle and sniffed and snuffed and growled at us from a distance of about twenty rods. We refrained from shooting foj fear the reports would frighten the man wolf away, and while a hundred of us stood gazing at the beast another suddenly appeared. It was the same creature I saw from the hammock. ' Ib is the man wolf !' moaned a score of natives in chorus, and at least a dozen of them slunk away into their huts. But the beast had nob come to disturb us. He had evidently been tracking the hyena, and he was there for revenge. He bounded over the ground with great leaps, and the hyena did not suspecbhis approach. The last bound was a tremendous curve in the air, and as the man wolf came down ib was full upon the hyena's back. He uttered a terrible scream as he struck, and the hyena gave vent to something like a 1 shriek. They rolled over and over on the ground, biting, clawing, growling and" gurgling, bub the fight did not last over sixty seconds. Then the man wolf sprang up, shook himself, and uttered a yell of triumph, and after threatening 1 us for a couple of minutes re-entered the jungle. We went out to the body of the hyena, and its condition gave us a strong idea of bhe man wolf's fighting powers.

One ear was torn off, both eyes were plucked out, two legs broken, its tongue nearly bitten off, and it had several horrible gashes in the belly. It was plain that the creature was a match tor lion or tiger, and we began to feel very uneasy. By the advice of the head man we built several extra fires and kept a sharp lookout. 1 The fellow is evidently very angry,' explained the old man. 'You are white men, and he is not pleased at your coming. Perhaps he has been told you* are here to capture him. ' Bub who could have told him ?' ' He had a cousin who was turned into a vulture for striking his father, and another Cousin who was turned into a serpent for cursing our faith. Either one may have carried the man wolf the news.' We placed sentinels on the watch when ready to turn in, but everything passed on quietly until about midnight. Then a succession of shrieks and screams and roars brought every man, woman and child out of sleep with a bound. I had no other thought than that the man wolf had seized one of the sentinels, but as I leaped out of the hut one called to mo : 4 Sahib, you have caught the beast in your trap !' It was a mile, as I have told you, from tho village to the spot where we had set the trap, and yet the screams seemed close at hand. When the news went round that there was no danger the village soon quieted down, but there was no further sleep for anyone. Whether caught or not, the creature seemed fastened to one locality for thy remainder of the night, and of all the proceedings I ever knew a wild beast to engage in, his were the wor^t. He hail a voice as strong as a lion's, and was not quier for two minutes at a time. He loaied, screamed, shrieked, lamented and growled, and the wind brought us every sound. He still had a full head of steam on when daylight came, and after a hasty breakfast a party of twenty of us moved in his dii cction. He probably heard us coming, for hi« anger was freshly aroused, and protty soon we could hear him tearing at the bushes. | I am free to say that tho first bight of the man wolf caught by the hind foot in the trap and hanging head downward from the swaying sapling took the courage out of me sooner than if I had met a tiger face to face on the path. He hung about three feet from the earth, and as far as he could reach in every dirrction ho had pulled up the bushes by the roots. He was as supple as a monkey, and could double himself up and reach tho trap, but strong as he was he could not spring tho jaws open and release his foot. There was a foot of chain before he could get to the rope, and the way the bit on that chain made us hold our breath. Had it been of soft iron I have no doubt he would bave cut it in two. He had been caught when we heaixl him scream out, and had been suspended for over four houis. You would have thought he would have been exhausted with pain and struggling, but he was not. As soon as we came near him*he made such tremendous efforts to get away, or to get afc us, that all the natives fled in terror. We quickly understood that we could do nothing with the beast until he had lost his strength and temper, aud we returned to the village and left him hanging. All that day he yelled out every two or three minutes, and all that night we heard from him at intervals. On the second morning he was still ugly, but late in the attcrnoon hunger and pain mastered him. We brought up a cage, got tin ee or four ropes around j him, and finally made him a prisoner His i foot and leg were teiribly swollen, and he made but little resistance. "We now had an opportunity to look him over. He was certainly a man-wolf- that J is, a native child had been carried off when young and brought up with the wild beasts tor twenty years or more. This creatuie had a human face and form, but the body was covered with coarse hair, the teeth were long, the hands out ot shape, and he had learned to go a& a four-footed animal. He was indeed a honible-looking fcighb, bub the worst feature about him was liX eye 6. No true wild bea&b ever saw through a more ugly pair. There w&s a villainous squint in them and the balls seemed to be aflame. We were congratulating ourselves on his I easy captuie when the head man replied : ' Wait a bit. Wait until his strength returns. You will never get him away from here. ' We drew the cage to the village and gave the beast food and water. He readily accepted both, and his conduct was as humble as we could desire. He was biding his time, however. On the third day he minutely examined the consbrucbion of bhe cage and tested every bar. He did this when he thought he was unobsei'ved. On the fifth day he began to snail and growl and show his temper, and on the &ixth we started off with him, the cage being dragged by twelve natives. Everything went well up to noon, when we stopped for a rest and a bite to eat. As> all were sitting down the man wolt suddenly sprang out of a corner where he had been sulking, seized a bar in either hand and with a tremendous effort wrenched them out. One he retained for a weapon as he leaped to the earth. It was so sudden that no one was prepared. He did not seek escape, but revenge, and before we could pick up our guns and open fire he had killed three of the natives and severely wounded two others. He was still laying about him screaming with rage, when one of the white men gave him a charge of buckshot and ended his career. He had struck only single blows, and yet each one had been hard enough to cripple or kill. But for our guns he would have killed every man in the party.