Although he had been some years
in India, the young officer had never seen a tiger, as it happened,
except from a distance; and he determined he would gratify his
curiosity, if possible, and have a good view of the animal. So he
dismissed his servants, and seated himself opposite the jungle, where
the tiger was supposed to be, and there looked out for the enemy. It was
moonlight, and the ferocious beast soon discovered the officer. The
latter could distinctly see all the motions of his savage foe. He
approached so slowly as scarcely to make the least noise. Then,
crouching down, he prepared to make the fatal spring at his victim. At
this instant, however, the officer, taking off a bear skin cap which he
wore, swung it in the air, and shouted as loudly as he could. This so
frightened the tiger that he made off with himself, and was soon out of
sight in the bushes.
A European gentleman, who has spent some time in Java, tells us a
thrilling story about the adventure of a criminal with a tiger. The poor
man was condemned, as is the custom in that country, to fight a large
royal tiger, whose ferocity was raised to the highest point by want of
food and artificial irritation. The only weapon allowed to the human
combatant was a lance, with the point broken off. After wrapping a cloth
round his left fist and arm, the man entered the arena with an air of
undaunted calmness, and fixed a steady, menacing gaze upon the brute.
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