making a leap. I called to my
friend to shoot, as the density of the thicket made it very probable
that my fire would be lost, by the ball glancing among the shrubbery.
But my friend was in the same predicament, and I quickly formed a plan
of operations.

[Illustration: GENERAL ACTIVITY.]

We were both good shots, and I thought our safety lay in killing the
beast as he rose in the air. Aiming at his head, I stepped slowly
backward, and shouted to my friend to cover the tiger and shoot as he
sprang. All this occurred in less time than I tell of it. Hardly had I
stepped two paces backward when the tiger leaped toward me. As he
rose, his throat was exposed for a moment, and I planted a bullet in
his breast. Simultaneously a ball from the other rifle struck his
side. We fired so closely together that neither of us heard the report
of the other's weapon. The tiger gave a roar of agony, and despite the
wounds he received, either of which would have been fatal, he
completed his spring so nearly that he caught me by the foot and
inflicted a wound that lamed me for several months, and left permanent
scars.

The natives, hearing the report of our rifles, came to our assistance,
and so great was their reverence for the tiger, that they prostrated
themselves before his quivering body, and muttered some words which I
could not understand.

Though assured that the beast was dead, they hesitated to enter the
thicket to search for the body of their companion, and it was only on
my leading the way that they entered it.

We found the remains of the poor native somewhat mutilated, though
less so than I expected. There was no trace of suffering upon his
features, and I was confirmed in my theory that he fainted the moment
he was seized, and was not conscious afterward. His friends insisted
upon burying the body where they found it, and said it was their
custom to do so. They piled logs above the grave, and after the
observance of certain pagan rites, to secure the repose of the
deceased, they signified their readiness to proceed.

The tiger was one of the largest of his kind. I had his skin carefully
removed, and sent it with my official report to St. Petersburg. A
Chinese mandarin who met me near Lake Hinka offered me a high price
for the skin, but I declined his offer, in order to show our Emperor
what his Siberian possessions contained.

[Illustration: TAIL PIECE--FLASK]

CHAPTER XVI.

On the morning of September 2