So well did Rob throw the stone that it struck the crouching tiger upon
the back, when the brute uttered a fierce growl, which brought another
scream from the frightened children that were clinging to each other a
few feet away.
Fearing that his first shot had not drawn the attention from its
intended victim, Little Hickory poised a second stone, sending it with
such precision that it fell between the animal’s ears with a resounding
thwack.
Another shriek from the surprised tiger rang out, louder and fiercer
than the first, when the creature wheeled furiously about to see who
this assailant from its rear might be.
Rob had picked up another stone, and as the maddened beast faced him,
he threw it with all the power he could command.
But this time he missed his target, though the tiger gave vent to its
rage in another howl of anger, and whipped the ground with its long
tail.
Rob now realized that his situation was a desperate one. The aroused
brute was preparing to attack him, and in a hand-to-hand battle with
the terrific animal he must be torn limb from limb.
Again he snatched up a stone, and hurled it with such unerring aim that
it fell squarely upon the tiger’s nose. But this fusillade, instead
of checking the onset of the brute, served to awaken its furious
nature, and with another growl it leaped into the air, its forepaws
outstretched to grapple with him, while its white teeth gleamed
fiercely in the gathering gloom of the evening.
If Little Hickory had not possessed uncommon nerve and agility his
career must have ended then, for there was a deadly earnestness in this
attack of the tiger, all of whose native ferocity had been awakened.
But, never losing his presence of mind, Rob watched the movements of
the angry beast intently, and as its body darkened the air he sprang
nimbly aside, so it just grazed his body to fall a couple of yards away
sprawling on the greensward.
Knowing that the battle had but just begun, and to run away would be
to incur certain death from the brute, Little Hickory quickly faced
the animal, looking it squarely in the eye, while he slowly advanced
instead of retreating.
The tiger showed that this bold defiance puzzled it, if it did not for
the time hold in check its wild passions. With a prolonged growl it
crouched lower to the earth, and while its tail descried circle after
circle in the air, it watched intently the youth who fairly held it at
bay by his superhuman bravery.
Still Little Hickory knew there must be a change in this situation
before long. It seemed only a matter of how long he could hold the
animal at bay. He had heard cries from the children, and he judged by
such sounds as he had heard that they were fleeing from the place. Of
course it would not do for him to look around, or even to speak.
In the midst of this intense suspense a loud, commanding voice fell on
the scene, and the words of the tiger’s keeper rang out clearly on the
silence of the startling _tableau_:
“Back, Leo! lie still!”
The tiger growled low and sullen, while its glaring eyes shifted from
Rob to this newcomer, who had approached swiftly and silently to the
spot unseen and unheard by both our hero and the brute before him.
“Step aside, young man, but do not let your eyes leave him,” said the
man. “I think I can manage him now. Down, Leo, down!”
Rob gladly moved backward, and at the same time the keeper, who carried
in his hand a stout, heavy whip, advanced, repeating his command to the
tiger.
This creature was in too ill humor to obey willingly. Perhaps the
short period of freedom he had enjoyed had made him unwilling to return
to his captivity. At any rate, he continued to lash himself into a
rage, while his keeper slowly moved nearer.
“Back, Leo, back!” commanded the latter, and to give greater force and
impressiveness to his words he brought his heavy whip smartly about the
body of the tiger.
The beast uttered a terrific growl, and as if goaded to desperation
leaped straight at the throat of his one-time conqueror.
The spell of subjection was broken. Once more the wild, untamed and
untamable spirit of the jungle asserted itself. The stern command, the
crack of the whip, the flashing eye had no longer any terror for the
aroused brute, and he cared only to devour his whilom master.
Little Hickory felt greater fear in witnessing this attack on his
deliverer than when he had himself faced the angry creature. But the
suspense was of short duration this time.
A quick movement of the right hand on the part of the keeper, the flash
of powder, and the report of a firearm were closely followed by the
death cry of the doomed tiger, whose last leap ended with his frantic,
dying struggles.
“It was too bad, too bad,” declared the man, as he watched the futile
efforts of the brute to regain its feet. “He was a valuable animal,
but it was his life or mine, and mine was worth more to me.”
“I was beginning to think it would be my life,” said Rob, “but you came
in good season.”
“Ay, lad, you were in a tight box, but you showed true grit. Do
you know, young fellow, there ain’t one in ten thousand who could
have stood up there as you did? I saw it all, but I knew it would
precipitate a crisis if I made a move before I was near enough to
hope for an effect. Say, if you will go with me I will guarantee you
a position where you can earn good money and a good-sized pile of it.
What do you say?”
“I thank you, sir, but I cannot leave to do it.”
“It will pay you. What do you say to a thousand a year to begin with?”
“I shall have to say no, sir. I wonder what became of those children?”
“They have reached the village by this time. Ha! there come some of
the townspeople, and I’ll warrant they will give you a kind word. You
deserve it.”
Without knowing what reply to make, Rob watched in silence the approach
of the party from the village, among whom he saw Dr. Menter and ’Squire
Hardy.
“Come right along and have no fear, gentlemen,” said the voluble
keeper. “This creature is powerless to harm you now.”
The relief of the newcomers was shown by their actions as well as
words, and when the slayer of the tiger came to describe how Rob had
saved the lives of the children, one at least in the crowd was warm in
his praise.
That person was Dr. Menter, whose children had been among those saved,
and he grasped Rob’s hand, saying fervently:
“Young man, I thank you from the depths of my heart. If you will come
down to the house Mrs. Menter will join her thanksgiving with mine. You
have done us a favor to-day which will take more than money to repay.”
As these were the first really kind words Rob had heard since coming to
Basinburg, they gladdened his heart with uncommon joy, but he was too
anxious to get home to accept Dr. Menter’s urgent request to go with
him.
During this brief conversation Rob knew that the ’squire was watching
them with baleful eyes, and when he started homeward, leaving the crowd
still standing about the body of the dead tiger, he knew the other was
glad of his riddance. He heard Dr. Menter say:
“Give that boy a chance and he will make a smart man.”
’Squire Hardy lost no time in replying.
“All rogues and cutthroats possess such smartness. I am surprised,
doctor----”
The rest was lost by Rob, nor did he hear the next remark of the
physician, as he hastened on his way toward Break o’ Day.
He had got about halfway home, when he was surprised by a shuffling
sound in the bushes by the roadside. His mind still alive to tiger
fights, his first thought was naturally of such animals, and he looked
about for some means of self-defense.