
Nov. 2, 1907.] 
FOREST*"AND STREAM. 
689 

tention from me, by an attempt to turn the 
tables upon the youngsters. 
“You think,” said he, “that because you have 
never seen nor read of such things being done 
and know that you yourselves are incapable of 
doing them, that therefore they are impossible!” 
Then, after asserting with a quiet dogmatism 
which was, at least, imposing, that the proposed 
feats were not only possible, but had frequently 
been achieved by experts, he asked abruptly as 
a bold stroke of diplomacy, “Now, you fellows 
all seem to know so much about it, I should like 
to know if any one of you has ever seen the so- 
called ‘tiger’ of this continent?” 
“IT thought not,” he continued, as his question 
was followed by a dead silence. ‘Well, I have,” 
he asserted boldly, ‘‘and there is nothing really 
formidable about him except his name of ‘tiger’ 
to which he has no real claim; he may be, per- 
haps twice the size of a tomcat, and I admit that 
if he had the courage to spring on a man from 
behind, he might wound him badly with tooth 
and claw—a mad cat might do that—but it is 
well known that they have riot the courage. 
Now, I know of a contrivance for collaring a 
savage animal, and keeping him at arm’s length, 
and if I cannot secure and manage your ‘tiger’ 
after we have once got him in the trap, I’ll eat 
him,’ 
The boldness of this announcement was not 
without its effect; the scoffers knew very well 
that what H. had said about their own ignor- 
ance was true enough, then why not the asser- 
tion of his own knowledge and capabilities? 
They felt that H. was too much for them. 
The joke was not long confined to our own 
fellows. There was daily intercourse between 
the managers of the several plantations up and 
down the coast, and in a few days the proposed 
caging and roping of the tiger was recounted 
far and near with the additional information 
that Jerry, under instructions from H. and my- 
self was engaged in digging the foundation for 
the posts of the trap. On the following Sunday 
| visitors poured in from east and west, managers 
| as well as overseers, and those of the former 
who had wives brought them along, ostensibly 
to call on our manager’s wife, but really to hear 
full particulars of the proposed caging of the 
tiger, and to join in the mirth which inevitably 
attended the discussion. H. and I were of 
course assailed on all hands with questions as 
to our proposed methods, and I took occasion to 
make it clear that my plans went no further 
than caging the tiger and shooting him in the 
| trap, and that I disclaimed all idea of participa- 
tion in the more heroic enterprise to which H. 
| had committed himself. One of the managers 
| (Mr. S. A.), better read in trapper’s lore than 
| the crowd, expressed an interest in my pro- 
| posals, and to him I cited my authority and pro- 
| duced a plan and perspective drawing of the 
cage. These were handed around and treated 
with respect, affording me an opportunity of 
remarking that, in my opinion, the cage, as 
designed, was strong enough to hold a real 
Bengal tiger, and that an animal bold enough 
to come into camp and carry off a half-grown 
shoat from the pigsty,;-would have no hesita- 
tion in entering the cage if he only should pass 
near enough to be aware that his favorite dish 
of dog was awaiting him there. Mr. S. A. at 
once expresed his concurrence in my anticipa- 
tions, and as the discussion continued, I soon 
perceived that a reaction was setting in in my 


favor all along the line. This was not the case 
with regard to H.’s proposals, which were now 
discussed, apart from mine, on their own merits. 
“T don’t know enough of the matter to express 
an opinion on its feasibility,’ said my cham- 
pion, and then added with a smile, that he “had 
not the nerve to test it experimentally.” A gen- 
eral laugh followed, and H., who realized that 
it was at his expense, stood on his mettle with 
the remark that “they laugh best who laugh 
last: 
‘But if H. put on a bold front before folks on 
Sunday, I perceived on the following day that 
he was secretly uneasy, and beginning to real- 
ize that he had undertaken to do moré than he 
was equal to. He endeavored slyly to draw me 
into a discussion of the size and power of the 
beast, admitting, as I alreadly suspected, that 
he had never seen one, excepting in a museum 
of stuffed animals. This qualification was 
probably another lie, for I had based my opinion 
on a stuffed specimen in the Georgetown 
museum, and had come to the very decided con- 
clusion that, after the lion and tiger, the jaguar 
is by far the most formidable of all the cats. 
However, I had no intention of cooling H.’s 
ardor by insinuating that his proposals were not 
feasible. I stated simply that “it would require 
a man of nerve, a man who could look a wild 
beast in the eye and make him quail,” and that I 
feared I was not equal to the occasion. 
Weeks passed before the jaguar was seen in 
the neighborhood again. Jerry visited the cage 
and fed the dog daily, but there was no sign of 
the marauder. But “all things come to him who 
waits.” One afternoon five weeks after the loss 
of Jerry’s dogs, when H, and I were still over- 
seeing adjoining plots, a coolie was seen running 
along the canal bank at a speed which left him 
speechless on arrival. “Tiger! tiger!’’ he suc- 
ceeded in getting out at length, and this pre- 
pared me for the glad announcement which fol- 
lowed—“The jaguar was caged!” 
I decided to take a couple of coolies, get my 
rifle and start for the cage at once, and called 
on H. to get his ropes and accompany me with 
two more coolies from his gang; but instead of 
responding with alacrity, I could see plainly that 
his courage was rapidly oozing out at his 
finger ends. He had been buoyed up by the 
hope that his nerve might never be put to the 
test, and now that this hope was dissipated, he 
was completely upset. 
“Would it not be better,” he asked, ‘‘to send 
coolies and get all the fellows together?” 
“No!” I replied decidedly, “the sun is getting 
low, and there is no time to lose.” 
I strode off at a rapid pace to the overseer’s 
quarters, and having dropped half a dozen car- 
tridges into my rifle, set off with suppressed ex- 
citement for the cage. H. joined me without 
his ropes, and on my asking him the reason, he 
said that there was now little daylight left, and 
that it would be a ticklish job to rope the tiger 
without a couple of plucky assistants on whose 
aid he could rely in an emergency. We walked 
on in silence until we heard the rough purring 
of the caged beast. Presently he sighted us and 
dashed himself against the side of the cage 
with a roar that startled me, even though I was 
prepared. I felt thankful that the stout poles 
of the cage were between him and me, and 
looking back to mark the effect it had on H., I 
saw him disappearing behind a tree. I knew 
that he was in an abject state of trepidation, but 
I had no pity for him; not a fellow on the planta- 
tion liked him, and none trusted him except the 
manager. Determined to make him show his 
true colors, I shouted to him to come and see 
the raging creature as he sprang from side to 
side of the cage. ‘“‘For God’s sake, shoot the 
beast!’ came the response from behind the tree, 
and unable to suppress my excitement any 
longer, I fired at two feet distance as the jaguar 
came at me, and endeavored to get his head 
through between the bars of the cage. The 
beast dropped, but was up again in an instant. 
Its head had been moving when I fired, and 
the ball, striking the eyebrow, 
traversed the top of the skull without penetrat- 
ing it; a second shot entered the eye and killed 
projecting 
him instantly. 
H, ventured out of his hiding place on re- 
ceiving my assurance that the beast was stone 
dead, and the more readily, that a number of 
fellows from the plantation were heard approach- 
ing; he was somewhat reassured on seeing the 
beast lying so still, but begged me not to open 
the door until after he had probed him with a 
pointed stick. The test proving satisfactory, the 
body was dragged out, lashed to a pole and 
borne off in triumph. Jerry was in time to set 
the terrified dog at liberty, and the 
creature went off at a pace which gave one the 
impression that he would never stop running on 
this side of the grave. 
Arrived in camp the jaguar was measured in 
the orthodox method, by laying him out and 
driving in a peg at tip of nose and tip of tail, 
then measuring the distance between the pegs, 
poor 
which was just seven feet. 
For a few months H. had to endure a great 
deal of banter on his failure to make good. He 
was then made assistant manager, and it was 
thought prudent among the youngsters to for- 
bear all further reference to the subject. But 
the sting had already entered, and H. was 
patiently biding his opportunity to balance ac- 
counts. After a short experience of his tactics 
I handed in my resignation, and promptly got 
an engagement as assistant manager on an ad- 
joining plantation. We met occasionally in after 
life and of course acted as became men of the 
world, but there was little love lost between us, 

Adirondacks. 
inquisitive 
Afoot in the 
For the man who will 
are more things of pleasure and interest in a 
camping trip into the Adirondacks than a good 
be there 
appetite and beautiful views of lakes and moun- 
tains. There is a rich, and since the life of the 
woods has by no means been written, an un- 
explored field for the observer. 
Note, for that part of 
history” of the woods which is to be seen in the 
In the thick evergreens 
elastie= Lt its 
instance, the “‘life 
very trail at your feet. 
you find the trail smooth 
brown with needles that have fallen for years 
gone by, while it is spotted red with the slight 
Even twigs 
and 
marks of recently fallen spines. 
and small clusters of needles lie in the path, 
giving evidence that a squirrel has cleared for 
himself trails along the limbs overhead. When 
you pace from the evergreen forest to the 
hardwood ridges, the trail becomes a_ black 
loam, no longer covered with the dry needles. 
The deciduous leaves of last year border it, for 
in the path most of them have either been 
blown off or trampled into the hardened mud. 

