and quickly a bleeding victim rolled at the feet of the monster with a human face. Here the veritable tiger was Nero. FIGUIER. Adapted. 42. A POET'S VISION OF THE TIGER. TIGER! tiger! burning bright, In what distant deeps or skies And what shoulder, and what art, What dread hand? and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp When the stars threw down their spears, Did he smile his work to see? Did He who made the Lamb make thee? 1. It was eight o'clock at night; we were dining, and during our meal discussing our projects for the morrow, when there arrived, quite out of breath, an Arab belonging to the tribe of Ben-Assenat. He told me that at sunset a leopard came and carried off a goat in the presence of the goat-herd, and that he had seen it enter a ravine, where it was certain to be found. I was too anxious to meet this infernal beast to hesitate an instant; dinner was left unfinished, and a rush was made at once to my weapons, notwithstanding the representations of several who wished to detain me, by observing that the night was very dark and the weather bad; but knowing that the moon rose at ten o'clock, and that I ought to be with the tribe before that hour, I started. 2. The man who conducted me, in his endeavors to make a short cut, went along narrow tracks, and often through the brushwood. My hunting-knife bumped against my legs and caught in the branches; so, to get it out of the way, I pushed it round my waist-belt behind, instead of retaining it by my side. I mention this fact here, though it appears of but little importance, because, as will be seen hereafter, it was the means to which I owe my life. 3. On reaching the tribe, I found the Arabs waiting for me. For a decoy they had got ready a goat and a stake to attach it to. They led me about a quarter of a mile from the camp, to the margin of a wide and deep ravine. Here they halted and explained: "The leopard is inside there; in this small thicket place yourself; we will go and fix the lure." 4. I was very much surprised they had chosen such a convenient position for me, and one which I could not have found without great difficulty. The ground was an inclined plane, which descended by a somewhat steep slope to the ravine, on the brink of which, facing from it, I took my stand. The Arabs drove in the stake on the higher ground, about twenty feet from me, and there tied the goat, then wishing me good luck, ran off with all haste, not desiring to become intimate with the dangerous animal they believed to be in the vicinity. 5. I had seated myself in the thicket, and had not drawn my hunting-knife from its sheath to lay it on the ground so as to have it ready. A few minutes had scarcely elapsed, when separating the slender twigs which might impede its movements, quicker than lightning the marauder fell upon the bait. I held my breath, and hesitated to fire, hoping the moon would afford me a gleam of light. A delay of some seconds thus ensued, for its rays only occasionally showed through the dark flitting clouds. But what was my astonishment to see the leopard pass by me carrying off the goat with the ease that a cat bears off a mouse! It was about ten feet from me, and moving directly across; I could neither distinguish head nor tail, only a black indistinct mass. 6. The remembrance of my thirty-four unsuccessful nights flashed across my mind; impatience carried me completely away, and, forgetting all prudent resolutions, I pulled the trigger. My gun, a twelve bore, was loaded with 110 grains of powder and twenty-four slugs. The object of my aim fell, uttering guttural roars, at the same time dropping the goat. I had broken the leopard's fore paws; yet it had not seen whence the shot came, and might have thought that the goat had exploded in his jaws. 7. The slightest movement on my part would be certain to attract attention; common sense demanded that the most complete immobility should be observed; but fearing a surprise, I determined to stand up in my hiding-place to see over it, and be the better prepared for results. In rising a branch caught the hood of my cloak and threw it down on my shoulder. This was another of the providential chances to which I owe my life. The wily brute, now alarmed, did not utter a cry or a sound, but fixed its attention on the thicket and listened. A few moments passed, and I, hearing and seeing nothing, thought the foe dead. 8. Crouching, and using every possible precaution, I issued from my shelter, carrying my gun with the barrels depressed and my finger on the second trigger. As soon as I was perceived the leopard made a spring of ten feet towards me. I aimed at its head; but the rapidity with which it came was so great, and the darkness so intense, that I missed, -- my ball entering the ground, and the fire from my piece singeing the hair on its neck. The terrible brute now threw itself upon me, and bore me to the ground in an instant. I fell underneath on my back, with my shoulders caught in the bush that had served me as a place of concealment. 9. First my foe attempted to strangle me, and fixing upon my neck, tore at it in indescribable rage. This was fortunately protected by the collar and thick hood of my cloak. With my left hand I endeavored to defend myself and push off my assailant, while with the right I made desperate efforts to grasp the hunting-kuife that lay under me. The former it bit through and through, notwithstanding the woolen sleeve that covered it. It also gnawed my face horribly one of the fangs of the upper jaw tore my forehead and went through my nose, the other fang entered at the corner of the left eye and broke my cheekbone. 10. Incapable of resisting with one hand, I abandoned the useless search for my knife, and with my two hands I convulsively grasped my assailant by the neck. It then seized me across the face, and driving its formidable teeth into the flesh, smashed the whole of my jaw. The noise thus caused sounded so painfully that I thought my brains were being crushed out. My face was in its mouth, from whence issued a burning, infected breath which stifled me. Still I clung to the foe by the neck, which was as large and hard as the trunk of a tree, and at length, with the strength of despair, I was enabled to thrust away its horrible head from mine. It then seized me by the left arm, and bit four times through the elbow. Without the large amount of clothing with which it was covered, it must have been crushed like a piece of glass. 11. All this time I was lying on my back on the extreme brink of the ravine, my legs above and head downwards. The leopard tried a second time to take me by the face. I resisted, but my strength was all but exhausted. Making a movement to better my position, it clutched my head. |