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VOL. XX.-NO. 922. ATLANTA, QA., SEPTEMBER 30, 1893. PF ICE: $2 00 A YEAR.
I'i thr Power of a Giant of the In
<lian Jungle.
A LA Ml NT.
for Thk Sunny South.
rar away. Death a Southern sky
Dreams of my heart in the Autumn tty—
Summer is goiDg-going for aye—
All too short was her genial Stay-
All my affections bound to her grace,
At I but tomorrow I forfeit my place—
gammer is going-why not 1?
Tell me, Oh! songbird, tell me why!
Faraway in a land of peace
All of my sorrows might find release—
Ssmrner is going-is restiDg there—
Breathing the balm of a land most fair—
0, for the wings of a bird to iiy
To the red, red hills and the Georgia sky 1
Bummer is going—my joy must cease—
Boon to bs shrouded in winter’s fleece.
Faraway in my dreams I see
The pines on the hilltops beckoning me—
bummer is going—the birds have flown—
Over my vision a mist has grown—
Inly in dreams may I fancy the bliss
Till tie Southwind comes back with a tell-tale
kiss—
Summer Is going- going from me—
breams of its sunshine my comfort be.
—Geo. E. Bowen.
TIGER’S PLAYTHING.
In India once I went out on a hot
Just} plain near the Ganges, with my
iile and one native servant, to see
frhat I could shoot. It was a dismal
ilace. Here and t here were clumps ot
all grass and bamboos, with now and
hen a tamarisk tree. Parrots scream
d in the trees, and the startled caw of
ome Indian crows made me pause
nd look around to see what had dis-
urbed them.
I he crows almost at once settled
own again into silence, and, as I saw
0 sign of danger, I went on careless-
1 \as alone, for I had sent back
iy servant to find my match-box
hich 1 had left at the place of my
st halt : blit I had no apprehensions,
r I was near the post, and the dis-
l was one from which, as was sup
>»ed, the tigers had been cleared out
>rae years before.
' ,ll ' tas 1 wa9 musing on this fact,
lt atin 8 e of regret because I had
K “ e itoo late to have a hand in the
earanie, 1 was crushed to the ground
3 hli S em ass which seemed to have
,eQ burled upon me from behind,
} head felt as though it had been
, with ic e or scalding water
_ then everything turned black.
was stunned by the shock it
J onl * for an instant. When ^
>ened my eyes I was lying with my
ln L ^ e san< ^ Not knowing where
Sva ' s or what had happened I started
rise ’ when instantly a huge paw
rued me over on my back and I saw
* sreat yellow green eyes of a tiger
ln ^ ^ 0Wn upon me through their
rrow slits,
1 J*d not feel horrow-stricken: in
,' 50 far as 1 can remember, I felt
l a dim sense of resignation to the
i^uable. 1 also remember that I
. CeJ curious interest that the
looked rather gratified than
‘Ocious.
| don’t know how long I lay there,
gazing up into the brute’s
> but presently I made a move
nt up , a nd then! saw that I
1 ™y r,fle in my hand. While
ooking at the weapon, with a
vague, harassing sense that there was
something I ought to do with it, the
tiger picked me up by the left shoul
der and made of? with me into the
jungle; and still I clung to the rifle,
though I had forgotten what use I
should put it to.
The grip of the tiger’s teeth upon
my shoulder I felt but numbly, and
yet, as I found afterwards, it was so
far from gentle as to have shattered
the bone.
Having carried me perhaps half a
mile, the brute dropped me, and rais
ing her head uttered a peculiar, soft
cry. Two cubs appeare d at once in
answer to the summons, and bounded
up to meet her. At the first glimpse
of me, however, they sheered off in
alarm, and their dam had to coax
them for some minutes, rolling me
over sottly with her paw, or picking
me up and laying me down in front of
them, before she could convince them
that I was harmless.
At last the youngsters suffered
themselves J[to be persuaded. They
threw themselves upon me with eager
though not very dangerous ferocity
and began to maul and worry me
Their claws and teeth seemed to awak
en me for the first time to a sense of
pain. I threw off the snarling little
animals roughly and started to crawl
away. In vain the cubs tried to hold
me. Tbe mother lay watching the
game with satisfaction.
Instinctively I crept toward a tree
and little by little the desire for escape
began to stir in my dazed brain
when I was within a foot or two of
the tree the tiger made a great bound
seized me in her jaws and carried me
back to the spot whence 1 had started
“Why,” thought I to myself, “this is
just exactly the way a cat plays with
a mouse!”
At tbe same moment a cloud seemed
to roll off my brain. No words of
mine can describe the measureless and
sickening horror of that moment
when realization was thus suddenly
flashed upon me.
At the shook my rifle slipped from
my relaxing fingers; but I recovered
it desperately, with a sensation as if
had been falling over a precipice.
I knew now what I wanted to do
with it. The suddenness of my gest
ure, however, appeared to warn the
tiger that I had yet a little too much
life in me. She growled and shook
me roughly. I took the hint, you may
be sure, and resumed my former atti
tude of stupidity; but my faculties
were now alert enough and at the
cruelest tension.
Again the cubs began mauling me.
I repelled them gently, at the same
time looking to my rifle. I saw that
there was a cartridge ready to be pro
jected into the chamber. I remem
bered that the magazine was not more
than half empty.
I started once more to crawl away,
with the cubs snarling over me and
trying to hold me; and it was at this
point that I realized that my left
shoulder was broken.
Having crawled four or five feet, I
let the cubs turn me about,whereupon
I crawled back toward the old tiger
who lay blinking and actually pur
ring.
It was plain that she had had a good
meal not long before, and was, there
fore, in no hurry to dispatch me.
Within about three feet of the beast’s
striped foreshoulder I stopped and
fell over on my side, as if all hut ex
hausted. My rifle barrel rested on a
little tussock.
The beast moved her head to watch
me, but evidently considered me past
all possibility of escape, for her eyes
rested as much upon her cubs as upon
me.
The creatures were tearing at my
legs, but in this supreme moment I
never thought of them. I had
now thoroughly regained my self-con
trol.
Laboriously, very deliberately,I got
my sight and covered a spot right be
hind the ol d tigress’ foreshoulder, low
down. From the position I was in, I
knew that w ould carry the bullet di
agonally upward through the heart. I
should have preferred to put a bullet
in the brain, but i n my disabled con
dition and awkward postnre I could not
safely try it.
Just as I was ready, one of the cubs
got in the way and my heart sank.
The old tiger gave the cub a playful
cuff which sent it rolling to one side.
The next instant I pulled the trigger
—and my heart stood still.
My aim had not wavered a hair’s-
breadth. The snap of the rifle was
mingled with a fierce yell from the
tiger, and the long-barred body
straightened itself up into the air and
fell over almost on top of me. The
cubs sheered off in great consterna
tion.
I sat up and drew a long breath of
thankful relief. The tiger lay beside
me stone dead.
I was too weak to walk at once, so
I leaned against the body of my van
quished foe and rested. My shoulder
was by this time setting up an anguish
that made me think little of my other
injuries. Nevertheless the scene
about me took on a glow of exquisite
color. So great was the reaction that
the sunlight seemed transfigured.
I know I fairly smiled as I rapped
the cubs on the mouth with my rifle
barrel. I felt no inclination to shoot
the youngsters, bat I would have no
more of their over-ardent attentions.
The animals soon realized this and lay
down in the sand beyond my reach,
evidently waiting for their mother to
reduce me to proper submission.
I must have lain there half an hour,
THE CAVERN QUEEN.
OR
Colonel Charlton’s Heiress.
[COPYBIGHTKD.]
BY MARY E. BRYAN.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A MOMENTOUS VISIT TO THE HAUNTED
HOUSE.
Mrs. (Jlcott kept her promise in no
half-hearted fashion. Now that her
eyes had been opened by Constance,
she seemed to feel the wrong she had
done her son and to be eager to undo
it.
Not only did she throw no obstacle
in the way of Constance’s avowed
purpose of regaining John Olcott’s
love, but she helped her in all these
subtle w^ys that women under
stand.
She played into her hand as tact
fully as an experienced matchmaker,
It was greatly to her surprise that the
desired result did not follow.
John Olcott did not assume the po
sition of lover. He spoke no word
that could mean a wish to renew his
relations with the woman who had
once been his betrothed wife.
There were times when the word
seemed to tremble on his lips, when
his eyes and his manner said she was
as dear to him as she had once been,
but in the next instant there was a
change. He seemed to check the soft
mood by an effort of his will. It was
as though he suddenly remembered
some barrier between them that could
not be surmounted.
“What is it that stands between
us?” Constance wondered. “What is
it that holds him back?” his mother
aaked herself.
Only Amy knew—or she thought she
knew.
“It is the yellow haired woman of
the Cave. It is she that stands be
tween him and his old love,” mused
the girl, her sympathies going out
strongly to Mrs. Wharden.
They had become good friends dar
ing the four days Constance had been
at the Evergreens. Amy was well
enough to take short walks in the
grounds, and drives over the hills and
through the woods that were still
green, though showing here and there,
the red touch of autnmn.
Constanoe drove with the ease and
mastery of the thoroughbred Ken-
and my elation was rapidly subsiding i woman. Sometimes she press-
before the agony in my shoulder, I ed j) P> olcott’s professional barouche
when at last my man,Gunjeet, ap-J j nt0 8erv j oe -but usually the vehicle
peared, tracking the tiger’s traces j n which she and her young comrade
with stealthy caution. rattled over the country was an an-
He had not waited to go for help, 1 0 j en t; buggy long since superannuated,
but had followed up the beast without I Constance had it brought out, re
delay, vowing to save me or avenge j p a j re <j after a fashion, and swept free
of dirt and cobwebs, and of the straw
me before he slept.
The cubs, on his approach, had run
off into the covert, so we set ont at
once for the post. When 1 got there
I was in a raging fever, which, with
my wounds, kept me laid up for three
months.
On my recovery I found that Gun-
jeet had gone the next day and cap-
cured the two cubs, which he had sent
down the river to Benares, while the
skin of the old tiger was spread luxu
riously on my lonnge.
You will not wonder that the sight
of a cat playing with a mouse has be
come somewhat distasteful to me since
that experience. I have acquired so
keen a sympathy for the mouse.
of the bens’ nests that the small
darkies had made in it. No mat
ter if did rattle forth its com
plaints at being dragged from
its well-earned rest as the spir
ited brown that drew it trotted gaily
along the shady roads. Constance
only laughed at the bang and jingle
of worn tires and springs, and said
she and Amy were like the little maid
in Mother Goose who had music wher
ever she went.
The little negro boy perched behind
| like a monkey, was useful to open
gates and to gather tbe flowers and
berries or sprays of red and yellow
leaves that caught the eye of Amy or
her friend as they drove past.
One day Amy drove to the sink in
which she was supposed to have been
drowned. She saw the spot where, as
she had been told, her hat was found
hanging on a bush half way down the
steep side of the sink. She left the
buggy and examined the place with
deep interest. There was the branch
of wild grape trailing on the ground,
which she was believed to have torn
from the limbs of the tree in her ef
forts to get the grapes.
Why had this been done? Who
had done it? Who had made this
shrewd and effective attempt to show
that she was drowned in the sink?
Who had brought her hat to this place?
She knew she had hidden it in the
thick bashes just outside the Cave.
She had taken it off before she crept
into the narrow mouth ot the cav
ern, because she knew it would be
in her way, who had found
it and brought it here in order to give
color to the belief that £she had fallen
into the sink? Could it be the man
she had seen in the cavern—the dread
shape that had shaken her off into the
abyss when she clung to him with the
desperate instinct of self-preserva
tion.
Dr. Olcott had questioned her close
ly about this man. What did he look
like? She could not tell him. She
had not seen the face of the shape,
she had only seen a large form, clad
in loose shapeless gray garments. In
her terror she had not believed it to be
human at all. The light it T ield had
beeh quickly extinguished. She did
not tell Dr. Olcott about the torn
sleeve and the cuff button that she
had found afterwards when she and
Lucrezia descendeds into the abyss.
She had promised Lucrezia not to tell
this, and she could not see that her
telling it would do any good.
It was all a mystery, why should
any one wish to destroy her?
The sight of the sink and of the
haunted house brought Amy’s strange
experiences afresh to her mind. Once
more the old questions came np. Who
is the woman in Gray—tne reputed
Ghost of the Haunted House—the
golden haired Queen of the Cavern?
Why does she hide herself under
ground and come out to the upper
world only in her ghostly disguise?
Above all, what is she to Dr. Olcott?
Why does he visit her in secret and
supply all her wants? He did this,
Amy felt sure. He ministered to her
bountifully, through the agency of
Kelp—the ugly, squat-shaped, power
fully built negro who he had declared
was more faithful than a dog.
The secret of the cavern was safe
with Kelp.
Amy had seen the Haunted House
in her drives, but she bad never been
inside it since the night Dr. Olcott
found her wandering there out of her
mind with fever.
She shrunk from visiting the place
[CONTINUED ON FIFTH PAQB.J