CHAPTER LXVIII. 



CAUGHT IN THE ACT. 



I |N absolute silence the three horsemen rode down the long hill. The horses, as 

 if in sympathy with their riders, seemed to plant their hoofs more guardedly 

 T^ in the soft dust of the highway, while they flung their ears forward and 

 glanced to the right and left like creatures who scent danger in the air. 



Dick was allowed to keep a few steps in front of Jed, while Mr. Godkin was 

 abreast of the latter, the footmen walking behind in Indian file. I must remind 

 you that there was no fence on either side of the highway, and the little stream, 

 which was only a few inches in depth, had to be waded by all who passed that way. 

 The jungle came close to the road on either side, and was so dense that when Dick 

 glanced at it, he could not help muttering to himself : "What finer place could a 

 tiger want for hiding " The question was not finished when the tiger ap- 

 peared. 



It may have been that she was in an unusually wrathful mood, because she 

 thought her enemies were seeking to disturb her before she could complete her 

 feast, for she hardly waited until the foremost horseman was opposite to where she 

 was crouching when she made her attack. 



While looking at the dense jungle on his right, Dick observed a slight agitation 

 of the vegetation, and before he could tell what it meant, the body of the tiger 

 shot outward and upward as if propelled from a catapult. 



The figure of the immense beast, brilliant, ferocious and frightfully beautiful as 

 she seemed suspended for a single instant in mid-air, was a sight which, once seen, 

 must remain vivid forever. 



Those who stood in the background saw the horrid front, the half-contracted 

 limbs, the drooping tail, as the lithe, sinewy form curved over toward the appar- 

 ently doomed lad. 



The latter observed the frightful head with the flaming eyes, the ears flat- 

 tened back, the wide-open jaws with their long, white, gleaming teeth and blood- 

 red mouth, as the beast seemed rushing through space like a comet directly at him. 



The intelligent animal that Dick bestrode had detected the peril before his rider, 

 and made one tremendous bound forward. Thus it happened that when the as- 

 saulting beast landed, it was on the ground several paces behind its intended victim. 



It would have been an easy matter for her to leap upon the pony of Dick, or to 

 wheel and attack either of the other horsemen that were at hand ; but you may not 

 know that it is a peculiarity of the tiger that, when it misses seizing its prey at 

 the first leap, it generally refrains from repeating it, turning about and dashing ofl 

 as if ashamed of its failure. 



