Republican Herald

ENCOUNTER WITH TIGERS.—We arrived at the brink of a deep ravine, at the bottom of which there was much brushwood, with here and there a pool of water. We sat down to rest ourselves, and listen for awhile to the music of the woods, which I must say was very discordant: the barks, howls, and roars of the beasts were incessant. The ravine was extensive, and there was a good deal of cleared ground in it, so that we could see up and down it a good way. We were in the act of descending half-way down the bank when we heard frequent loud yelps approaching us fast.

Jack Low told me to drop down, keep close, and the gun ready: he did the same, his dark expressive eyes dancing with half-concealed eagerness. We had not long to wait, for in two or three minutes a beautiful young wild black horse came tearing along the clear part of the ravine, in the direction of our concealment. He was going at his utmost speed, and closely pursued by two splendid tigers, who ran much quicker, and whose bounds we could distinctly perceive were great, as at each they rose several feet from the ground.

As the poor horse came up nearly to where we now were, (for we crawled deeper into the ravine,) he seemed to be nearly exhausted, and slipped down on his knees, about thirty yards from where we kneeled down ready for them. One of the tigers crouched, with all the twisting motion of a huge cat, and made a spring of about twenty feet right on the back of the horse, and seized him by the neck with a fearful growl; the other animal trotted round the horse, lashing his tail about, and roaring with terrific ferocity: they were too busy now with their victim to scent us out. “Are you ready now?” said Jack. “I am,” said I. By agreement I covered the tiger on the horse, my guide the other. At a signal both guns went off together. The one I had covered rolled kicking off the horse, the other fell down and tumbled about in all directions, evidently badly wounded. “Now for the knife,” said Jack, and we rushed up to where they lay.— Mine was dead, but the other was still active, though unable to move any distance. I went up to him with the intention of firing a second barrel through his head, when my guide insisted upon my letting him alone, and drew his long knife.

The tiger had yet great vitality, and I was much alarmed lest he might injure the man, and kept the gun ready for an immediate shot. Jack went boldly up to him: the infuriated animal grinned horribly and writhed rapidly about, throwing up a good deal of dust from the dry ground. One plunge of the knife, a roar, into him again, a hideous grin and a tumble about, some blood scattered on the ground, at him again, a miss stroke of the knife, try once more, both down and nearly covered with dust. I was now determined to put an end to this dangerous conflict if I could; but the rapid motion of both man and beast prevented me firing, lest one should receive what was intended for the other. The tiger had now hold of either the Indian or his clothes, as both rolled together; yet the knife was busily at work. At last his arm was raised high up with the red dripping instrument, and after one more angry plunge of it the tiger turned on his back, his paws and whole frame quivering, and, with an attempt at a ghastly grin, he fell over on his side and died. Jack then stood up, covered with the blood of the animal, and his first ejaculation was, “Un diablo!” in English, “One devil!”

I was anxious to ascertain if the man was hurt, and, after washing himself in a pool of water near us, I was delighted to see that he escaped, with the exception of one faint bite on the shoulder, and a few tears of the paws on his arms, which he seemed to care nothing about. He was a brave man, told me he killed many of them, but this one, he said, died hard. We now considered it prudent to reload our guns, as the smell of the blood about and the dead carcasses might attract other gentry to the spot that it would be just as well to be prepared for them. My shot, after passing through the tiger, entered the horse's neck, and killed him also. Jack told me now to keep a good look-out while he skinned the animals, or, as he said, “took their jackets off.” He worked with experienced activity, had in an incredibly short space of time the hides off tigers and horse, rolled them closely up into a convenient pack, made all fast with a thong which he cut off, and finished the affair by saying, “a doubloon's worth, any how.”—Coulter's Adventures on the Western Coast of South America.