Our hurricanes disturb wild animals, numbers of which approach the
outskirts of the towns bordering on the prairies. People are on the
watch, for sometimes they have entered the habitations.
A curious incident occurred on the confines of one of these towns. A
mother had gone into the next house to fetch something required for her
household use, leaving her young child, about three years old, playing
on the ground. The door of her cottage was open, and she little knew
that a large tiger was prowling near. The watchers had gone into the
field, and the tiger approached the outskirts of the town, close to the
hut where the child was playing, entered through the door, and found the
little innocent, who, not knowing what danger was, allowed the animal to
approach, and even patted him. The tiger crouched down close to the
pillow on which the child had been playing.
The mother returned, and, to her horror and bewilderment, saw this huge
tiger, with her darling child fast asleep, its head resting on the belly
of the animal. She was for a moment paralysed with fear, and was unable
to utter a single cry, but, recovering herself, she ran and gave the
alarm. No time was lost in communicating with the officials, and very
soon hunters and men skilled in pursuit of wild animals were on the
spot; but the comparatively short time that elapsed was to the poor
mother, who saw the child of her affection, beaming with health, in the
power of the monster.
The huntsmen viewed the great beast, but they were at a loss what to do;
for the chief said, that if they shot him, even in the most vital part,
he would most likely, in his death-struggle, kill the child. After some
consultation, they procured a hook, fixed it firmly at the end of a long
rod, and then took hold of the child's dress and pulled it by the hook
gently towards them. The movement roused the tiger, who caught the rod
in his mouth and broke it, as though desirous to retain the child. The
child woke and cried, but the tiger licked him, and whilst so engaged
the men managed to get partly over him the iron network (used, as I have
described, to secure wild beasts), so as to disable him, and to get the
child away. When the beast saw the child removed he uttered a piercing
howl, such as had never been heard before, and, strange to say, the
child was also grieved to leave the tiger, or, to use his own words, the
"large beautiful cat."
The animal having been killed, the skin was dressed and presented to the
mother of the child.