TIIK niA'E TIC 1:1; 



375 



him sooner 



of tlu' lilui' ti.uxT has hccn reported. 

 the evidence linrdly warrants the as- 

 sumption that it represents a distinct 

 species. 



We hunted the animal for li\i' weeks. 

 Tlie hrute ranged in the vicinity of 

 two or three vilhiges about seven miles 

 apart but was seen most frequently ncai' 

 Lung-tao. He was as elusive as a will- 

 o'-the-wisp, killing a dog or a i;-oat in 

 one village and, by the time we had 

 hurried across the mountains, api)ear- 

 ing in another spot a few miles away, 

 leaving a trail of terrified natives who 

 flocked to our camp to recount his dep- 

 redations, lie was in truth the "(ireat 



lnvisil)le"" yi't it seeme(l inipossil)le 

 that we should not get 



or later — but we never did. 

 Once we missed him by 



a hair's breadth through 



sheer bad luck, and it was 



only by exercising almost 



superhuman restraint that 



we prevented ourselves 



from doing bodily harm to 



the three Chinese who 



had ruined our hunt. 



Every evening for a week 



we had faithfully taken a 



goat into the "Big Ea- 



vine," for the 1)lue tiger 



had been seen several times 



near this lair. On the 



eighth afternoon we were 



in the "blind" at three 



o'clock. As usual we had 



tied a goat to a tree near 



l)y, and her two kids were 



but a few feet away. 



The grass-filled lair lay 



shimmering iti the l)reath- 



less heat, silent save for 



the echoes of the bleating 



goats. Crouched behind 



the screen of branches, for 



three long hours we sat in 



the patchwork shade, — mo- 

 tionless, dripping with per- 

 spiration, hardly breath- 

 ing,— and watched the 



shadows steal >l<iwly down the nari'ow 

 ra\ini'. 



It was a wilil place wbicli seemed to 

 have been cut out ol' the mountain-side 

 with two strokes of a nnghty ax and 

 was choked with a tangle of thorny 

 \ines and sword grass. lm[)enetrable 

 as a wall (d' steel, the only entrance 

 Wiis h\- tlu' tigei- tunnels which drove 

 tlieii- twisting way ihi'iuigh the mur- 

 der(Uis growth fai' in toward its gloomy 

 heart. 



'idle shadows had passe(l o\ci' us and 

 just reached a lone palm tree on the 

 opposite hillside. \\\ that 1 knew it 

 was six o'clock and in hall' an liour an- 

 other (lav of disappointment would be 

 ended. Su(hlenly just at the left and 



Courti'sy of Harry R. Caldwell 

 Selling the meat of the tiger killed at Lungtao. — The Chinese 

 Ijclieve that the flesh, blood, and bones of tigers have great me- 

 dicinal value, and they will pii.v liigli prict's for tlicm 



