CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
55 
or India by a man-eating tiger. This often happens in these 
jungle countries, and the beast usually makes his getaway with 
his hapless victim which ofttimes is an infant in the cradle. 
Men tread with great caution both by day and night, and for 
weeks avoid going forth after nightfall unless urgent necessity 
drives them forth. As with the villagers of Africa or India, 
you can always count upon the fear subsiding as the horrifying 
occurrence takes on age, but the details of the tragedy will be 
related for two or three generations, never losing any of its 
shudder-provoking qualities. 
We recall one particularly pathetic occurrence of the kind, 
within the circle of our friends. Any such tragedy is always 
to be regretted, to be sure, but particularly so in this instance 
by reason of other related circumstances. A blind old gentle¬ 
man, in extreme old age, lived near a green bayou along a 
small river. He had never known ought but poverty, and 
withal a pious and venerable old gentleman. One of his sons, 
a mere lad though he was, had completely won his rough old 
heart. He was so solicitous of his father’s welfare that he 
gradually, and it might be said almost unconsciously, assumed 
all the duties which his father in his blindness was compelled 
to call upon some other member of the family to perform. It 
was in early July. The blueberries in the bayou were ripe, and 
the season having been a particularly favorable one, they were 
both plentiful and luscious. It was felt that inasmuch as a 
beneficent providence had supplied these good things in such 
abundance almost at their door, it would be criminal folly on 
their part if they did not go forth and garner them, that their 
larder might be full during the long months of summer, fall, 
winter and spring. Like the dutiful son that he was, the young 
chap went forth with the party to perform the task the father 
had Assigned them. Their labor was yielding a return which, 
if looked upon for long, would produce an uncontrollable flow 
of saliva—buckets full and buckets full of berries so blue that 
they were almost black. 
This young fellow was walking along a fallen pine log, 
which rested slightly off the ground. The loose bark suddenly 
peeled off, letting the boy down on the ground astride the log. 
