TIGER-HUNTING IN CHINA 227 



over in a few seconds, in the cave shooting a sports- 

 man is frequently kept at the highest tension for 

 several hours, having located the game, and while 

 still uncertain as to whether it will charge out be- 

 fore being successfully blocked. 



I had had my fill of the jungle. Rains, flies, and 

 fever had convinced me that tiger-shooting in the 

 tropics had its distinct disadvantages, and had made 

 me wish for a healthful country and a respectable 

 atmosphere, where one could enjoy living and shoot- 

 ing at the same time a paradox in the jungle. I 

 was unwilling to return without a tiger; glowing 

 tales were told of this cave district. Here, then, was 

 the very thing for which I had been waiting. 



It was with the keenest anticipation that I finally 

 found myself rolling down the coast of China to- 

 ward Amoy on the little Haitan. The old Scotch 

 engineer told me stories over our pipes and coffee in 

 the evening, of lighthouse keepers along the shore 

 watching the tigers play at night on the beaches 

 below, and of natives carried away from the rice- 

 fields within shouting distance of their very villages, 

 which made me feel that at last I was in for some 

 sport. So, though alone, except for my old Cin- 

 galese servant, Thomas, who had now shared with 

 me many adventures, I was not at all loth the next 

 morning to transfer self, goods, and chattels to the 



