SHIKAR EXTRAORDINARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 261, 2 April 1914, Page 6

SHIKAR EXTRAORDINARY.

TlflULi.Al)v ENTL'KE IN INDIA.

(liy ,1-, lines Gauld.)

"What on ear ill docs Mr. Dacrc mean by having that .hing stuck up in the hall?" I ask.-d Mackenzie. ''lt seems about the lasi bit. of furniture one won 1J expect to tiuii !u an Indian bungalotv."

"That tiling." ) may say, was a magnificent suit oi j.laie armour, .probabl;. of the sixteeuui century, and we had just .passed it oh our way out of the house to join tin' other two, Richard Dacre, tlie "boss," anil Kmil Roth. tlie senior assistant. "Mac,'' a shrewd young Scotchman, was the junior partner, whiio 1, Ernest Randall, was the latest-import-ed assistant ai, Jthumlerporv Tea Estate, province o£ Nation-, India. Mac paused on tin? threshold and looked back at me. ''Speak respectfully about that, young man, if you want to keep in tlie good graces of the boss, lie is mighty proud oi' the thing. It seems tha.t that red-faced chap whose portrait hangs neat the armour used to weal' it. He was a sDacre, and no end of a swell. If you tt'uni to please the boss, ask him liicelv, and Jic will tell you the story.' This I took an early opportunity of doing, and Mr. Dacre willingly acceded to my request. Tlie other cliapf, who had lieard the yam until tliey were sick of it, dozed over their cigars in tlulir chairs on the verandah, but 1 thoroughly enjoyed it. Some day I may spin it to | you, but it has nothing to do with tlie j present tale. j When Mr .Caere had finished, Mac- I kenzie remarked: "Those old lne-eatevs j did some wonderful tilings, Dacre, bill 1 j don't think tliey were our equals either in size or strength." "Xonsense, Mae," retorted Mr. Dacre. "If you read the accounts of their appearance and exploits you will find you are quite mistaken." "An ounce of proof is wortli a pound of argument," said Mackenzie, quietly. "I'll wager there isn't one of us who could get into that suit of armour and wear it with anv comfort:" Dacre looked" nettled. "Speak for. yourself, Mac," lie cried. "It wasn't made for a big, raw-boned Scotchman like you. Roth or myself could wear it., and Randall here would be lost in it." Mackenzie eyed me serenely for a minute and puffed his cigar. "Randall could put it on because lie i 9 only a little chap, but it will be a close lit." A wain Dacre dissqjited, so Roth suggested that tlie best way to settle Ihe question was for me to try on the »r----mor. Keeling qiut. interested in (he liscussion, 1' was eager to do so, and in ,i*s 1 han live minutes Roth and i had c;rried the whole outfit on to the veramhli. and Mr. Uacre was busy initiating me into the mysteries of hauberk, greaves, sollcrets, and all the rest. The things might have been made for me, and when clad cap-a-pie. T stalked up and down the verandah, clanking and clattering at every step and feeling pretty much as I imagine a diver must feel when he "goes under." I wa« just about to retire to undress when a dusky figure came running round the corner of the house, and. salaaming profoundly, paused at the foot of the steps. On being invited to do so by Mr. Dane, the native mounted on to the verandah, and began to jabber excitedly in the local dialect. I didn't know much of it their, being a "greener," hut I stepped forward to listen. The clanking noise | made the fellow turn, and with an un- ' earthly yell he sprang down all the stppu at one bound, rolling over and over on the grass in the garden below, and, picking himself up, van for dear life the way he had come. After some bother liotli persuaded the native to return, and the hitter's new« was sensational.' A man-eating tiger had appeared that evening at a village two miles away and carried oil" the poor fellow's wife. "Would the sahibs be so kind as to come and shoot the monster before it did more damage?" The three Europeans were instantly atroi* with excitement at the prospect of a° tiger hunt. It must be the tiger, Dacre averred, of which he had heard a week before at another village, ten miles away. They had evidently made it too hot'for him there, and lie migrated to "fresh woods." "We had better go tomorrow afternoon and polish him olT," he said. "We don't want him to come sniffing round here. I must tell the ladies to keep the children inside until he is accounted for." After a close cross-examination of the native, the rest of the evening was spent ill discussing plans. Tt was finally decided that early the following afternoon the party would proceed to the spot where the man-eater had been seen lust, and that a bullock would be tied up as a bait, while the hunters, concealed on a platform of boughs in a neighboring tree, would lie in wait for the tiger. Now, during all this interesting discussion I sat painfully silent. Although f had come out to the tea country to earn a living, I had never fired a gun in my life. Born and brought up in a town, I had had little chance of making the acquaintance of fire-arms, and the fact that I was very short-sighted made the opportunity I now had of no use to me. It was only when the question was raised as to who was to go that I spoke. "Someone must stay and look after things," I said, "so I shall volunteer. You three go ahead and account for the tiger. The farther I am from his vicinity the better."

Nobody demurred, for nil three were keen to go; so it was settled thus. Next afternoon Mrs. Dacre, Mrs. Mackenzie, and I cheered the departing Nimrods and wished them good luck, and then the children claimed me for a romp until tea-time. The evening passed uneventfully, with no news from the hunters, and we all retired to rest about ten o'clock. It must have been about midnight that T awoke, startled by a peculiar noise. 1 had not been out long enough to get accustomed to all the weird sounds of the jungle by night, and they often startled me into wakefulness. But on this occasion the noise was close at hand- outside my window. in fact. 1 heard a snuffing sound, and then a pad-padding along the hoards of the verandah. I wa> wide awake in an instant, for immediately it Hashed through my mind that it must lie the man-eater. No other denizen (if the. jungle dared venture so near the'homes of men. and. there being no man about the big house all the evening ■.ave myself. everything had been very quiet, while down by the native lints 1 had noticed lires blazing, and bad beard some iinearlhly native niu.ic right up to bedtime. AVliat was to be done? I. couldn't alarm the ladies and children, and yet T felt 1 must do something to protect t.lieni. The man-eater would make short work of our fastenings if he decided to force his way in. A rille was of no use to nie. 1 was no shikatree. T sat trembling with excitement —tinged, T must confess. with a feeling akin to t'ar—and pondered the situation. Suddenly an idea struck me. Rising, I groped my way as quietly and quickly as possible to the entrance hall. There the moonlight showed me what X wanted. I had determined to don the suit of armour, and then—well, I wasn't quite sure what then, but X should certainly be in a better case if the tiger forced his way

in than if clad oaly in gaily-striped pyjamas. I It was lucky 1 had tried on the things before, and knew just what to do with each piece, otherwise 1 should have had to abandon the business. As il was, my trembling hands fumbled awkwardly with the various fastenings, and I made rather a lot of noise before I got everything oil. Listening intently, 1 found I had apparently disturbed no one, so I proceeded to select my weapon. The long- sword of the original owner of the armour was useless for my purpose. I ranged over the collection on the wall, and finally decided upon a serviceable shikar, or hunting-knife, with a blade Bin long by 7y 2 in broad, partly doubleedged, fluted, tapering to a point as sharp as a needle. Clasping this iirmly in my right hand, with the point adviml, I went to the door, and, after listening intently for the padding sound for a few seconds, I opened the door quickly, stepped outside, and fastened it securely after me. Stepping heavily across the verandah 1 lay down at the top of the stairs, closed the visor of my big helmet, and rested my knife against my thigh, point upwards. Although I had moved as quietly as possible, the rubbing of the steel plates over one another had made a rasping noise, and there had been a clatter as 1 lay down which sounded like a falling saucepan in the stillness of the night. Consequently I had not long to wait. The noise probably alarmed the tiger for the moment, but it also awakened his | curiosity, and less than a minute I heard tiie soft padding sound cautiously approaching me. A huge, dark shape loomed between me and the sky, obliterating the stars. He bent down and sniffed at inc, and I got a whiff of.his foul Ureath which nearly turned me sick. For the first time I realised the perilous position in which I had placed myself. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I recalled stories f had read of the terrible strength of the tiger. .My thin easing of steel now seemed poor protection against the sledge-hammer blow from his paw I momentarily expected. But nothing happened. Few tigers, I learned afterwards, will eat a dead body, and my armour—cold to the touch—and the fact of my lying motionless, made me seem a corpse to him. The armour seemed to puzzle him. He sniffed all over it, shifting his great paws from place to place on my body. He took one of my ankles in his mouth and mumbled it, but the steel greaves easily withstood the half-hearted onset of his teeth, and, finding little, to his taste there, he dropped it.

He left me and walked to the end of tlie verandah, 1 turning my head and watching him tha while; but he soon returned to pursue his investigations. It was imperative that I should get him in such a position that I could strike with the certainty of inflicting a mortal wound, otherwise my chances of coming out of the adventure alive seemed very slight. Again and again I thought I had him right, jind on each occasion he shifted before I could make up my mind to risk the fatal blow. Suddenly a loud scream of anguish rang out in the adjoining jungle; some unfortunate monkey had fallen a victim to one of the denizens of the wilds. The man-eater drew himself up, his forepaws resting on my chest, and stood listening'. Now was my opportunity. With a swift upward lunge 1 drove the keen knife slantwise into his body just below his heart until my hand touched his skin, twisted it rapidly from side to side, and withdrew it. ..With a roar of agony ho sprang into the air, blood spurting from the wound, and fell crashing upon me, rolling about scratching madly at everything within reach. In mv excitement I foolishly tried to get another blow in—and bungled it, merely inflicting a flesh wound. He saw my arm move, and turned on me like a demon, realising at last whence had come the unexpected stab in the dark. A blow like that of a steam-hammer descended on my breastplate, denting it inwards and driving all the breath out of my body. His great claws rasped over the steel, vainly seeking a vulnerable point. Seizing my right arm, bespattered with his life-blood, he shook me in his horrible jaws until 1 grew diuzy. Every moment I expected something to give way, and to feel his claws in my ilesli, but the good old armour stood the test nobly. He lifted me up by my arm

almost clear of the ground and (lung me down the steps with a mighty clatter. I expect he thought this would smash me { up somehow and let him get at me prop- i rlv, for lie immediately sprang down on | tli" top of me, clawing and biting like some demented creature. With the instinct of self-preservation which is innate in all living creatures f stabbed widly at him as long as 1 was conscious, , but soon all became a blank, and 1 remember r.o more.

When X came round again 1 was pinned to the ground by the body of the man-eater, now limp and lifeless. Unable to move, I shouted for help, my voice sounding strangely hollow within my helmet. I heard voices in the distance, and, turning my head, T could see torches Hitting about in the native quarters. They drew nearer, and very cautiously, on my assuring them the tiger was quite dead, several of the natives, aft.u - first pelting him with stones, came close up and dragged the great beast off my poor bruised body. Kiiibing my visor, 1 struggled to my feet, but no sooner had I done so than with loud yells of dismay they all took to tlwir heels. T only understood why aftar I had wearily dragged my aching limbs into the house, and, lighting a lama, surveyed myself in a mirror. I must have looked a dreadful object in the torchlight, for my—to them—outlandish costume, was smeared from head to foot with the blood of the tiger. I felt liti.le the worse for my mauling atte/ I had doffed my steel casing, although my chest and right arm were bruised and black, but the next day—! I now heard a trembling voice asking what had happened, and saw Mrs. Darcc peeping cautiously into the hall. She was greatly disturbed when I told her,

nnd reproached me for risking my life as J hud done, bul seemed greatly relieved to hear the man-eater was dead. She said they had all been awakened by the hubbub. but had huddled in one bedroom. afraid to look out until thev heard me moving about in the hall on my return. Jiefore 1 retired to rest I dispatched a messenger to tell the hunters their vii would be a vain one, but 1 wa< fast asleep stiff and sore to get up, ?o 1 held a sort of levee in my bedroom, for I found V was the hero of the hour. T was afraid Mr. fiacre would be annoye'i at me for using Ihc armour without permission, but when T mentioned it to him he promptly said: "Xonscnse, my dear bov. I consider the dents and scratches the tiger made art' as honourable as any the armour got while worn By the great Sir Ralph Dacro himself. But I must say it was lucky for you it was only the broken fangs of an old man-eater which were exercised upon it. If it had been a young, fullgrown tiger—well, I am afraid to think what might have, happened. Mind you. I am not trying to belittle your exploit, only to show you how foolhardy it was. I don't mind admitting that 1 shouldn't have dared to risk it." And, between ourselves. T don't mind admitting that I wouldn't do, the same' thing again at any pricey „ r , __ rrf