icating the poor beast. When the rescuing party
returned, they found a tiger had arrived before them, and having killed
the buffalo, had just shouldered it, and started to march home to its
lair with the prey. The tiger was soon dispatched by the peasant and his
friends, and his beautiful skin was made to atone in a measure for the
murder of the buffalo, which, when weighed, tipped the scales at more
than a thousand pounds--a tremendous load for so small an animal as a
tiger to shoulder and carry off with ease.

The tiger is very troublesome to the inhabitants of certain localities
in India, as it attacks the herds, and makes off with many a fat
bullock; and when unable to find other provender it will even attack the
huts of the natives, sometimes tearing away the thatch, and springing in
with a loud roar on a startled family. Instances are rare, however, of
tigers attacking human beings, except when surprised and driven to
self-defense. In some portions of the country they are very abundant,
and may be heard every night roaring through the jungles in search of
deer and other beasts upon which they prey. Even the savage wild boar of
India does not terrify this queen of cats, and often bloody battles
occur between these two powerful beasts.

As a mother the tiger is very devoted, and will fight for its pretty
kittens to the last extremity. A story is told of an English officer
who, while hunting in India, came upon the lair of a tiger, in which a
tiny kitten, about a fortnight old, was lying all alone. Thinking that
the mother was probably among the beasts killed by his party, the
officer took the kitten to the camp, where it was chained to a pole, and
amused the whole company with its graceful gambols. A few hours later,
however, the whole camp was shaken by terrible roars and shrieks of
rage, which came ever nearer and nearer. The kitten heard them, and
became a miniature tiger at once, showing its teeth, and answering with
a loud wail. Suddenly there leaped into the camp inclosure a furious
tigress with glaring eyes. Without deigning to notice the robbers of her
baby, she seized the little thing in her teeth, snapped the small chain
which held it with one jerk, and briskly trotted off with it into the
jungle. Not a man in the camp dared move, and no one was malicious
enough to fire at the retreating mother that had risked her life to
regain possession of her baby.

[Illustration: A ROYAL BENGAL TIGER.]

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