A large fire,
consisting of ten or twelve whole trees, was blazing by us at the time
this accident took place, and ten or more natives were with us. The
human mind can scarce form any idea of the scene of horror. We had
hardly pushed our boat from that accursed shore, when the tigress made
her appearance, almost raging mad, and remained on the sand, exhibiting
signs of the utmost ferocity, all the while we continued in sight."
There is an account given of a small party who entered a cave, to seek
shelter from a terrible storm, in South America. The storm raged with
such violence, that they could not hear each other speak; the
cedar-trees were struck down, and the torrents of rain rushed from the
mountains. Suddenly a growling noise was heard at the end of the cave.
They soon found, to their amazement and horror, that they had taken
refuge in a tiger's cave, and that the growling proceeded from two young
cubs. At this moment the Indians who attended them gave the alarm that a
tiger was approaching. The Indians mounted a tree, and the party in the
cave blocked up the mouth of it with a large and heavy stone, which
fortunately lay near. A dreadful roar was heard, which was replied to by
the growling of the two cubs, and the flaming eyes of a tremendous tiger
were seen glowing with fury between the top of the stone and the rock
just above it. The tiger attempted to remove the stone, but his
prodigious strength was unequal to the attempt, and he howled more
tremendously than before.
Pages:
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140