Chatterbox, 1906 Part 26

Natives had come overnight, hearing that a sahib had arrived. They reported that a bad tiger had lived for a month in the jungle, close to the village. It had already killed and eaten three persons, besides destroying many bullocks belonging to the people. 'Unless the sahib comes to our a.s.sistance and kills the beast, we are lost--we and our children!' they told him. The Sahib Eccles had been delighted to hear of the tiger; it was just what he most wanted. 'Are there beaters to be had?' he asked. Fifty beaters were found in the surrounding district, but the reputation of the tiger was so bad that all the men and women were very nervous, and the sahib had laughed when told about them, and had said that he did not think they would be of much use if they were so frightened before they went into the jungle.

Nevertheless, the Sahib Eccles chose a tree for himself in a place where he could see well in many directions, and climbed up into the branches, and the beaters were placed at a distance around the place where the tiger was supposed to be lying. The beat began; that is, the natives shouted and banged their drums, and smote the trees with sticks, and produced horrible sounds from many different kinds of instruments; but, almost as soon as the noises began, the tiger suddenly uttered a single, terrible roar, and (said the shikari) nearly all the beaters immediately left for home. The beat ended, there were no more weird noises, and silence fell upon the jungle.

'I was with the Sahib Eccles in his tree,' said the shikari; 'and, first the sahib was very angry indeed, and then he laughed.

'"We shall do no good up here," he said, "for the tiger will not move unless he is driven." He had killed a bullock in the night, and was lazy with much food. "Dare you enter the jungle with me, shikari? You heard where the beast roared--there or thereabouts we know his position. Shall we make an attempt to move him, you and I?"

'There were one or two beaters close at hand. They had not dared to run away because they were in full view of the sahib and of me. "These men shall help us," said the sahib, "if they dare; they shall walk behind us and shout."

'"We will try, sahib," I replied; "but he is a dangerous beast and very crafty."

'"I have two rifles," the sahib said, laughing, "and they are also dangerous beasts."

'So we two climbed down from the tree and spoke to the beaters, who then followed us into the jungle, keeping well behind us. They must not shout, we told them, until told to do so, when we came close to the place where the tiger had roared.

'Then we moved slowly and cautiously into the jungle, looking this way and that, the sahib walking in front and I a few yards behind; and, behold, we had scarcely walked for two minutes when suddenly came three loud noises, almost simultaneously--first a terrible roar from the tiger, then the report of the sahib's rifle, then a shriek from the sahib himself and---- '

The shikari placed his hands before his eyes as though to shut out some horrible picture, and groaned aloud.

(_Concluded on page 98._)

LONG LIVED.

In certain parts of the African desert, where it is too hot for any plants to grow, the ground is in places thickly covered with white snails.

In 1858, a naturalist travelling through this region collected some of the sh.e.l.ls from a spot on which it was believed no rain had fallen for five years. These snails' sh.e.l.ls were packed away and left untouched until the year 1862, when the naturalist, at home once more, unpacked his sh.e.l.ls and placed them in a basin of water to be cleaned. To his amazement, a quant.i.ty of healthy living snails were found on the following morning crawling all over his study table!

S. C.

THE ALMOND AND THE RAISIN.

'Twas an Almond and a Raisin In a dish all silver bright, A Raisin dusky purple, And an Almond creamy white.

Said the Raisin to the Almond, 'I was once as full of wine As a dewdrop is of sunlight, And a glossy skin was mine.'

Said the Almond to the Raisin, 'And I've a tale to tell-- I was born inside a flower, And I lived within a sh.e.l.l.'

Said the Raisin to the Almond, 'We are both from Southern lands, And we came once more together, Having fallen in English hands.

'Don't you think we ought to marry?

I am sure 'twould be as well, Though I have lost my juices And you have lost your sh.e.l.l.'

Said the Almond to the Raisin, 'It is my dearest wish.'

That is why you always find them Side by side within the dish.

F. W. H.

FAITHFUL TO DUTY.

A gatekeeper on one of the German railways kept a goat, and one day, when his wife was ill, he went himself to milk it. But it would not allow him to come near it, as it had not been accustomed to any one but its mistress. At last he determined to put on his wife's clothes, and this plan succeeded admirably. But he had not time to take off his disguise before he heard a train approaching. He ran out at once, just as he was, and opened the gate, but his appearance caused the pa.s.sengers to think that he was mad. The case was reported, and an inquiry was made, but on the truth being known, the gatekeeper was praised for his faithful discharge of duty.

H. B. S.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "He ran out just as he was."]

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

True Tales of the Year 1806.

III.--THE CAPTURE OF BUENOS AYRES.

The long sea voyage was over at last, and the Expedition which had set sail from England in the previous autumn cast anchor in the bay outside Buenos Ayres on the 26th of May, 1806.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "He seized one of the ladders."]

This city, the capture of which was the object of the Expedition, lay very dimly outlined in the western horizon, for the sea was too shallow to allow the larger vessels to approach within six or seven miles of the sh.o.r.e, and even when the troops had landed, three miles or more of a perfectly flat plain would have to be traversed before they could arrive at the city itself.

'Will the Spaniards fight, do you think?' asked Gerald Anstey, a young ensign of marines, as he stood on the deck of H.M.S. _Narcissus_, and strained his eyes towards the direction of Buenos Ayres.

'I expect so,' answered a brother-officer who was by his side. 'But hallo, Anstey! here is the General's orderly--what is up, I wonder?'

A trim private advanced towards Anstey, and said respectfully: 'The General wishes to see you in his cabin, sir.'

'The General! To see _me!_' e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Anstey, turning to his friend in utter amazement. 'What can he want with me?'

'To consult you as to the best manner of landing the troops, perhaps,'

laughed his friend, for Anstey was the youngest ensign in the regiment.

'But you had better make haste and present yourself, for Sir Popham Horne is not the man to be kept waiting.'

Anstey hurried away. On entering the General's cabin he saluted, and then waited to receive the orders of his commanding officer.