THE BLUE TIGER 



just Im'Iow us tliiTc cauu' tlu' fnintest 

 cruiu-liinL;' ^ouud as a loose stouc shifted 

 under a lieavv weight ; then a rustlinii' 

 in the grass. Instantly the <'aiitive 

 goat gave a shrill Ideal (d' teri'oi' and 

 tugged frantii-ally at the ro|ie whidi 

 liehl it to the tree. 



At the first sound llari'V had 

 hreatlied in my ear. "Get ready, he's 

 eonnng." I was half kneeling, with my 

 heavy .4(>-") Winchestei- ]>ushed foi-ward 

 and the hammer up. 'I'he hlood 

 di'uininc(l in my ears and my neck inus- 

 eles aeheil with the sh-ain. hut 1 

 thanked ]lea\('n that my hands wei-e 

 steady. Caldwell sat like a graven 

 image, the stoek of his little .22 caliher 

 high-power Savage nestling against his 

 rheck. Our eyes met for an instant 

 and I knew in that glance that the l)hie 

 tiger would nevei- make another charge, 

 for if 1 missed him, Harry would not. 

 I-'or ten minutes we waited and my 

 heart lo.st a beat, when twenty feet 

 away the grass began to move again — 

 hut I'apidly and up the ravine. 



I saw Harry watching the lair with 

 a puzzled look which changed to one of 

 disgust as a chorus of yells sounded 

 across the ravine and three Chinese 

 woodcutters appeared on the opposite 

 slope. They were taking a short cut 

 hoiue. shouting to drive away the tigers 

 — and they had succeeded only too well, 

 for the blue tiger 'had slipped hack to 

 the heart of the lair whence he had 

 come. 



He had l)een nearly ours and again 

 we had lost him. I felt so bad that 1 

 could not (nen swear and it was not the 

 fact that Harry was a missionary ■which 

 kei)t me from it, either. C^aldwell ex- 

 claimed just once, for his disajipoint- 

 ment was even more hitter than mine; 

 he had been hunting this same tiger off 

 and on for six years. 



It was useless for us to wait longer 

 that evening and we pushed our way 

 througli the sword grass to the entrance 

 of the tunnel down which the tiger had 

 come. There in the soft earth were the 



great footprints whei'e he had ci'ouehed 

 at the enlrance to take a cautious sur- 

 \ev licforc 'liarging into the open. As 

 we looked, llai'iw suddeidy turned to 

 me and said. "l\oy. let's go into the lair. 

 Thei'e is just one ehaiiee in a thousand 

 that we iiia\' gel a shot." \ow I must 

 adndt that 1 was not wvy enthusiastic 

 ahout that little excursion, hut in we 

 Went, ci-awliug on our hands and knees 

 up the narrow ])assage. JMery U^w feet 

 we passed side branches fi'oni the main 

 tunnel, in any one of whieli the tigei' 

 might ea^ilv have been lying in wait 

 and could have killed us as we passeil. 

 it was a foolhardy thing to do and 1 

 am free to adnut that 1 was scai'cd. It 

 was not long before Hai'ry twistefl ahout 

 and said. "Hoy, I haven't lost any tigers 

 in hei'c ; let's get oitt." And ottt we 

 came faster than w'e went in. This 

 was oidy one of the times when the 

 "(ireat Invisible" was almost in our 

 hands. 



A few days later a Chinese found the 

 l)lue tiger asleep under a rice bank 

 early in the afternoon. Frightened al- 

 most to death, he ran a mile and a half 

 to our cam)) mdy to find. that we had 

 left half an hour before for another vil- 

 lage where the brute had killed t\vo 

 wild cats early in the morning. 



Again, the tiger pushed o\Kn\ the 

 door of a house at daybreak just as the 

 members of the family were getting up, 

 stole a dog from the "heaven's well," 

 dragged it to a hillside and partly de- 

 \oured it. A\'e were in camp only a mile 

 away and oui- Chinese hunters found 

 the carcass of the dog on a narrow 

 ledge in the sword grass high up on the 

 mountain-side. The s])ot was an impos- 

 sible one to watch and we set there a 

 huge gi'i/.zl\' bear ti'ap which had been 

 eari'ie(l with us fi-oin Xew York. It 

 seemed out of the (piestion for any ani- 

 mal to i-eturn to the carcass of the dog 

 without getting caught and yet the 

 tiger did it. With his hind qitarters on 

 the up|)er tei'race he drop])ed down, 

 sti'etclied hi-; long neck aeross the traj). 



