CHAPTER XVI.
A TUSSLE WITH A TIGER.
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.