Treed By A Tiger.

tains , and took the town . AVell , just before the battle , I was out with a small scouting party along the Hi , right through the low rice grounds . You saw those rice fields on the other side of the Tchepan-Ata Hills , didn ' t vou , just before coming to the Zer-Affshan ? " "

"Yes it was just sunrise when I passed through them . " " And what did you think of them ?" " I thought them one of the nastiest bits I'd ever seen . "

" AVell , they re nothing to those on the Hi—just nothing at all . All that ' s not water is mud , and all that ' s not mud is musketoes . I never had such a time of it in my life ; and when we got into the jungle , it seemed quite comfortable in comparison . "Nowone of the men with me was my

, servant , Andrei Goorko , a Cossack of the right sort , and one of the best men in my company . The morning we started he had looked rather glum and chopfallen , because , as he explained to me on the road , he had dreamed that he saw his own bead pulled

off and lying on the ground , though how he managed to see it I couldn ' t exactly find out However , in spite of this , he insisted on going first , saying that no man can avoid his fate , and that if there were evil hanging over us , it had better fall on him than me .

" However , the first day passed off without our meeting anything else but musketoes—and I ' m sure they were bad enough . The second was just the same , and , toward evening , when we were pretty nearly through the jungle , I began to make fun of Andrei and his dream , when all at once his

horse stopped short , and began to tremble all over , and then turned ri ght round . Before anyone could say a word there came a crash and a roar , and a whirl of dust , and there lay poor Andrei on his face on the ground , with a large tiger upon him !

" I fired right at the brute ' s head , but hi my haste I only hit the fore-shoulder . Luckily the man behind me was a cooler fellow ; he took a steady aim and hit the beast with a shot in the back that fairly broke its spine . Over it rolled

, lashing out furiously with its fore-paws , and two more shots despatched it . "Then we took up poor Andrei ; but he was past helping . The brute had caught him by the back of the neck , and with one wrench of its laws , had

torn bis head clean off ; and so his dream came true , sure enough . Poor fellow ! I was never so sorry to lose anybody . We made shift to dig a grave for him , and put a cross at the head of it , and then we took the tiger ' s skin as

a trophy , and went on again . " An hour later we came out upon the bank of the river , and my men encamped , glad enough to rest after two days in the saddle . But as for me , what with the game we had bagged already

, and what with my rage at poor Andrei ' s death , my blood was fairly up for more sport , and , as soon as we'd finished supper , I took my rifle and went off along the river bank , to see if I couldn't fall in with another tiger .

" Presently , I came to a place that was just the thing I wanted—a high bank overlooking the river , with a tree which I could easily climb growing a little way down it , and the tracks of the big game passing and repassing in every

direction . Plainly enough , this was one of the places where they came to drink ; so I scrambled up into the tree , laid my rifle across my lap and waited . "I sat for half-an-hour or so without

seeing anything to fire at , when finding myself getting rather cramped , I thought it best to change my position . I turned round to do so , and—found myself face to face with the biggest tiger I'd ever seen in my life ! " There he stoodon the top of the bank ,

, just level with where I sat , and certainly not ten feet off . The moon was brig ht as day , and I could see the glare of his eyes , and the glitter of his great white teeth , as plain as I see you now ; I could even feel his hot breath on my face !

"It ' s no use trying to make out that I wasn't frightened ; I was as thoroughly frightened as I ' ve ever been yet . So much so , indeed , that I couldn't stir hand or foot but just sat like a statue ; and that was what , in all probability ,

saved my life ; for had he made a spring , he could have dragged me down as easily as a cat catches a mouse . " How long we sat staring at each other I don ' t know—if anyone had said a month ) I'd have believed it—but this I do know , that I foreswore tiger shooting in the most solemn manner twenty times over . At last ; the beast turned his head , and walked