skin. At length, however, one of them struck
him near the eye, and the arrow remained sticking in the wound. He now
broke anew into the wildest fury, sprang at the tree, and tore it with
his claws, as if he would have dragged it to the ground. But having at
length succeeded in getting rid of the arrow, he became more calm, and
laid himself down, as before, in front of the cave.

"Frank now returned from the lower end of the den, and a glance showed
us what he had been doing. In each hand, and dangling from the end of a
string, were the two cubs. He had strangled them, and, before we were
aware what he intended, he threw them, through the opening, to the
tiger. No sooner did the animal perceive them, than he gazed earnestly
upon them, and began to examine them closely, turning them cautiously
from side to side. As soon as he became aware that they were dead, he
uttered so piercing a howl of sorrow, that we were obliged to put our
hands to our ears.

"The thunder had now ceased, and the storm had sunk to a gentle gale;
the songs of the birds were again heard in the neighboring forest, and
the sunbeams sparkled in the drops that hung from the leaves. We saw,
through the aperture, how all nature was reviving, after the wild war
of elements which had so recently taken place; but the contrast only
made our situation the more horrible. The tiger had laid himself down
beside his whelps. He was a beautiful animal, of great size and
strength; and his limbs, being stretched out at their full length,
displayed his immense power of muscle. A double row of great teeth
stood far enough apart to show his large red tongue, from which the
white foam fell in large drops.

"All at once, another roar was heard at a distance, and the tiger
immediately rose, and answered it with a mournful howl. At the same
instant, our Indians uttered a shriek, which announced that some new
danger threatened us. A few moments confirmed our worst fears; for
another tiger, not quite so large as the former, came rapidly towards
the spot where we were.

"The howls which the tigress gave, when she had examined the bodies of
her cubs, surpassed every thing of horrible that we had yet heard; and
the tiger mingled his mournful cries with hers. Suddenly her roaring
was lowered to a hoarse growling, and we saw her anxiously stretch out
her head, extend her wide and smoking nostrils, and look as if she were
determined to discover immediately the murderers of her y