Wonderful Feat Accomplished by a Cossack.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 368, 15 May 1889, Page 3

Wonderful Feat Accomplished by a Cossack.

Whkn Pezon, tho linn-tamer, was nb Moscow with hi? menagerie, bo had occasion to employ a moujik, a fine specimen of Cossack,, to clean out tho cages of the wild beasts. The Cossack did not understand a ~waiyl of •French, and the terms of the contiact were settled in dumb show. By way of instructing him in his new duties, Pezou vent through a eorc of pantomime the broom, sponge and water bucket. Tho moujik watched' him closely, and appeared 'to fully undei stand the details of the ■ ghen. Next morning, armed with a broom, a bucket and a sponge, he opened r.hb first ca^eihe came to, and quietly stepped in, as he had seen his vnnstci*. step on, the. previous day into two cases of harmless brutes ; but this one happened to be tenanted by a splendid but untamed tiger, that lay stretched on the floor fa"t asleep. At the noise made by opening and closing the door the creature raised its bead, and turned its green eyes full on the man, who, all unconscious of his danger, stood in a corner dipping his big sponge into the b'uckeb At that moment Pezon came out of his caravan, and was struck dumb by the [ terrible sight that met his gaze. What could he do to warn the man of his danger? A sound, a movement on his part, might enrage the gi eat beast and hasten its attack on the defenqeless (Jos-sack. So Pezon stood, awaiting developments, ready to rush to the scene when the crisis came. I The moujik, sponge in hand, coolly ap prdached She tigery and mado r'eqdy to rub him down with the stolidity, ojf v a milibuiy bootblack polishing his captain's boot. The sudden application of cold water to its hide evidently produced a,. very agieeable effect on the tiger, for ib bejjan to purr, stretched out its paws, rolled over on its back, and complacently offered every portion of its body to the vigorous treatment of the mouiik, who went on scrubbing with might and main. All the while Pezon stood there with his eyes wide open, as if nailed lo the spot. When he had finished his job the Cossack left the cage as quieb'y as> he had entered it, and it required the most energetic and expressive gestures on" 6»e part of the lion-tamet to prevent his repeating the experiment on a second wild -beast.