CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 117 



indeed, these terrible animals have been killed 

 with simpler weapons. Sir James Outram 

 slew one with a spear, and Colonel Duff was 

 equally successful with a dagger. 



We are even assured that it is possible for 

 anyone who may suddenly come unarmed on a 

 tiger to quell the brute by staring at it. This 

 is one of the thrilling experiences I prefer read- 

 ing about. It suggests memories of the re- 

 doubtable Major Corker in "Aliph Cheem's " 

 amusing Lays of Ind, in which, as you may 

 remember, the Major says : 



" I laid my Purdey down, to my shikaree's great surprise, 

 And crossed my arms and calmly stared the tiger in the 

 eyes ..." 



a treatment which the valiant warrior repeated 

 till the tiger lay dead in its den. Mesmeric 

 powers of this order are sometimes claimed by 

 vain and foolish natives, invariably with un- 

 pleasant results. Thus, a Sepoy of the 33rd 

 Sikhs made the experiment at the Calcutta 

 Zoo not long ago, and lost most of his face for 

 his trouble ; and a Hindu of Bangalore was 

 badly mauled on another occasion, when 

 several villagers, interested spectators of the 

 great man's demonstration of his occult powers, 

 suffered even more serious injuries than he did 

 himself. In these days of long-range rifles, 

 hunter and hunted rarely come face to face at 



