stance to stumble, to hesitate, to go back upon his words, to fall into incoherence; then, when the people seemed to say to themselves, "Is this the great Gough?" he would begin to recover himself and to work reasonably within the compass of his power. These are a few of the Americans whom it has been my pleasure to see at close quarters. They have all been men of special mark. It is perfectly obvious that an American preacher or public speaker has a method of his own, easily distinguishable from the purely English manner. I should say that, on the whole, Americans are incomparably better speakers than Englishmen. This superiority in the matter of rhetoric and eloquence is in no small degree traceable to the methods of public-school teaching prevalent in the United States. The children seem to be taught the art of social and public speaking. They express themselves with the easy confidence and emphasis of complete intelligence. They know the history of their own country, and have a really good idea of general English literature.-Youth's Companion. The Tiger That Ate Three Hundred Men. BY SAMUEL N. WALKER, of the Bengal Police. All districts in India have their reputation for sport, though not exactly for salubrity. Hazaribagh, however, was an exception, for it was lovely as a health resort; lovely in its scenery, and for sport was excellent. When, in the cold weather of 1891-92, by foregoing temporary promotion, I contrived-owing chiefly to ill-health-to get posted there, I rejoiced at my good fortune. On arrival at my new quarters, I lost no time in finding how I might best combine shooting with work, a plan I invariably follow, and learning that the services of Chuna, one of the best Shikaris, were obtainable, I engaged him forthwith as my permanent servant. The Chief being absent on tour when I joined, I could not leave headquarters, so had to content myself with drives for pea-fowl, jungle and spur fowl, and black and gray partridge, with now and then. a go at quail, snipe, and wild-fowl, all of which could be had in small quantities within a radius of three to ten miles from my house. Knowing nobody, I had at first to shoot alone, but I soon made the acquaintance of C, who had been a very successful big-game shot in his day, and of T, acquaintances which, before I was transferred, ripened into deep and lasting friendships. The last-named lived some sixteen miles out of the station, but when work permitted came to me for week-ends, and perhaps I helped to imbue him with the big-game fever. On these occasions we had serious foregatherings at the club, and at my own house, maturing our Shikar plans. When unable to get away for a shoot—which we did on every available occasion-we got up jackal hunts and paperchases for the benefit of the ladies, who were ever reproaching us for the scant entertainment we gave them. A MAN-EATING TRIO. Those were delightful days, but very soon after joining I learned that a maneating tigress had, within the past three years, killed and devoured three hundred men, women and children. She had commenced her depredations alone, but subsequently had two cubs whom she trained in her nefarious practice, with the result that latterly the number of their victims had increased rapidly, and the Bengal Government had offered a reward for their destruction. The family were known as the Tandua man-eaters. Their haunt was a dense, limitless forest, with thick brushwood, about twenty-eight miles from headquarters, and T and myself resolved to hunt them all, but more especially the mother. Now, big-game hunting requires time as well as nerve. It was the wrong time of the year for drives and tracking, for the foliage was opaque in its denseness. Our rendezvous, two or three deserted mud huts, suited T- admirably, for he lived about half-way to it. But as I could only be away from Saturday till Monday, we decided this first expedition should be more of a prospecting trip for future use than a hunt, and I will only say of it, we saw on that occasion nothing of the tigers. When next we took the field, in March, the season was more favorable. We were three guns now, the third being a young brother of mine (since killed in South Africa), a very keen, all-round sportsman, who had joined me to recruit his strength. We encamped in a more civilized place on this occasion, and had emissaries in all the surrounding villages who would bring information should the tigers make their appearance. They had been killing rather freely of late, so we had the greatest hopes of success; nor were we disappointed. About midday news came that a tiger had killed, on the outskirts of a village about three miles distant, and was still devouring its victim. We rode out with out delay with our Shikaris and beaters, and drew lots for posts. Having no time to construct maichans, we sat on morás (cane stools) on the banks of a small stream, where a little rising ground gave us a much better chance of seeing the approach of the tiger. The nature of the country left no doubt as to where the animal would break when driven, but our only fear was that as three guns had to cover so much ground, and there was a good deal of rank grass and brushwood in the bed of the river, the tiger might slip past us unnoticed. AN EXCITING BEAT. At last the exciting beat commenced, and my brother suddenly viewed the tiger about two hundred yards away. It was coming straight for him, and mightily pleased he was with the prospect of getting his first stripes. Being young at the game, however, his impulse was to stalk the animal, but better counsels prevailed, so he sat still. With wild yells the beaters came on, thumping their drums violently, but alas! no tiger appeared. We began to think that it had slipped through between us, when of a sudden there was a shot from T's post, then silence again. Until the beaters came right up to us, we sat still, but presently pushing our way through the jungle to T, found that he had killed one of the cubs, about two and a half to three years old. He was also thinking we had been outwitted, when he heard a stealthy rustling in the bushes behind, and looking around, saw the gorged animal stalking along about forty yards distant, at such an angle that It must have crossed the river midway between my brother and my friend. Being an excellent shot, the latter placed his bullet plump in his shoulder, and dropped it dead. Pleased with this par tial success, we returned to camp. We hunted for the others daily during the remainder of our leave, but no luck came to us, and when our time expired we rode sadly back to headquarters. April found us once more in the field, encamped on the same ground as on our last hunt, eager for sport, and awaiting news. My brother was not with us; his leave had now expired, and he had returned to duty. It was weary work hanging about camp in that blazing heat, but we were determined to play the game properly. About midday on the second day after our return, a messenger arrived in hot haste, saying that the tigress had seized a villager collecting wood in the jungle about two hundred yards from the mud huts where we had encamped on our first expedition. Off we started, and after a five-mile walk reached the spot. Parts of the jungle had been fired here, and in the ashes details of the tragedy were plainly visible. A BLOODY TRAIL. The sight was horrible. First, we found the unfortunate victim's shoes, with blood sprinkled about where he had been sprung upon and seized; then the trail was visible where he had been dragged along a ravine toward the unburnt jungle. Tracking was easy under such circumstances. T- and I took it up at once, walking shoulder to shoulder, our rifles loaded and full-cocked. Those were exciting moments. Our Shikaris followed with our second weapons, keeping a sharp lookout behind lest we, the trackers, should, in our turn, be tracked. Very soon we came upon the poor wretch's turban; then on his loin-cloth, and saw more blood spattered about. We went on with each until we came to the unburnt jungle, where, owing to the hardness of the ground, the trail was difficult to follow, our only guide being a pebble displaced here and there. The tracking was long, tedious and perilous. At length we came to a deep, dark scour in the ravine, with a good deal of jungle around it. It was just the sort of a place the tigress would choose in which to make her ghastly repast, so T— and I stooped to peer down into it. Acting on inspiration, I ascended the slope of the ravine in order to spy out the land on the other side, to see whether I could catch sight of the tigress. Carefully I peered over the ridge, and there, sure enough, before me, not forty yards away, lay-not the tigress, but the corpse, partially devoured. One leg had been eaten, and the thigh-bone was exposed. The tigress had evidently heard our approach, and being, like most man-eaters, a cur, she dreaded a face-to-face encounter, so had left her victim, and crept away into the limitless forest. A WATCH BY MOONLIGHT. Plainly our best chance of success was to retreat very quietly, frightening her as little as possible, and return later and sit over the corpse by moonlight. This we did, and a long and most uncomfortable wait we had. We climbed quietly into a tree, and sat insecurely on the small branches. We could not construct maichans for fear of disturbing the tigress. The corpse, which was within thirty yards of us, looked terribly ghastly with the full light of the tropical moon shining upon it, and the white. thigh-bone gleaming horribly. Impossible it was to keep one's eyes off it, or even to help moralizing on the fate of the three hundred odd victims this tigress and her cubs had already devoured, or even on the number of similar scenes that must occur yearly in many parts of India. Patiently we waited until about 10 o'clock, then fired a shot, the signal for a gang of our men to come with torches, and, making all the noise possible, to escort us back, for we knew it was quite on the cards that, although the man-eater had not returned to finish her victim, she might have seen us climb our tree and be cunningly lying in wait to surprise and carry off one of us on our return journey. We got safely back to camp at last, and were very glad to get to bed after our day's work. The next day being our last, we drove two of the tigress's favorite haunts with about fifteen hundred beaters, but failed to get in touch with her. This was my last try for that tigress, for I was soon after transferred to an other district. But a little later, it appears, she grew so bold that she actually extended her beat to the environs of the station itself, and one night she carried off C's bearer as he was returning home after seeing his master to bed. However, her day came at last. A Shikarai shot her in the same way Tand I had tried, by sitting up over the body of one of her victims. Nothing more was heard of the second cub; it must, therefore, I think, have died about the same time as the mother. These are two more well-authenticated instances which refute the generally accepted opinion that all man-eaters are old and decrepit-too old and inactive to catch game. Stray Gleanings. BY GEO. F. BLACK. Abbey Laird.-A cant expression for an insolvent debtor sheltered by the precincts of Holyrood Abbey. “As diligence cannot be proceeded with on Sunday, the Abbey Lairds (as they were jocularly called) were enabled to come forth on that day to mingle in our society." R. Chambers. Aberdeen man's privilege, An.-To change one's mind on second thoughts. "These good folks, Alan, make no allowance for what your good father calls the Aberdeen-man's privilege, of 'taking his word again'; or what the wise call second thoughts."-Scott, Redgauntlet, letter vii. Act of Security, The.-An act passed by the Scots Parliament in 1704, to the effect that unless a satisfactory settlement of the rights, liberties and inde pendence of Scotland should be obtained in the course of the present reign, the Scots Parliament would, on the queen's decease, meet and name a successor different from the person who succeeded to the English throne. This led to the Act of National Union, which was ultimately carried 16 Jan., 1707. The first united parliament was on 23 Oct., 1707. Acts Parl. Scot., ix, 136, 137. Ad vitam aut culpam.-A Latin phrase used in Scots law to indicate the legal permanency of an appointment or office, unless forfeited by misconduct. Ad vitam aut (ad) culpam, phr.: Late Lat. lit. "to lifetime or fault," of a tenure held for life subject to good conduct. 1818. "The lowest clansman felt his own individual importance as well as his chief, whom he considered as such only 'aut vitam aut ad culpam.'"-E. Burt, Letters from the North of Scotland, Vol. I, Introduction, p. lvii. Annexis and Connexis.-A legal phrase, occurring in old deeds, as denoting everything in any way connected with possession of the right of property referred to. of the ceremonies of the succeeding year. The festival, transferred to a different arena, forms the opening scene of Scott's Old Mortality. Colonel Anne.-Name given to Lady Mackintosh, on account of the spirit with which, in defiance of her husband, who remained loyal to the House of Hanover, or perhaps in obedience to his secret Athole Brose.-A compound of honey wishes, she raised a clan for the Jacoband whisky. 1818. "The captain swallowed his morning draught of Athole brose."Scott, Heart of Midlothian, chap. xlviii. Blackfoot.-Name given to one who acts as proxenata, to secure that a marriage will take place between two persons. Blue. The favorite color of the Covenanters, based on Numbers xv, 38. Blue and orange (or yellow) became Whig colors after the Revolution of 1688, and were adopted on the cover of Whig periodical, the Edinburgh Review, first published in 1802. See Lays of Deer Forest, ii, 383-4. Bonnie Lass o' Livingstone, The.-The lady celebrated in the song is said to have kept an inn at the old village of Livingston, about a mile to the west of the present village, which was then the Kirkton. Bozzy.-A diminutive of the surname of James Boswell, the biographer of Dr. Samuel Johnson. It is said that this nickname was given to Boswell by Johnson himself. Bride of Lammermoor.-The title of a novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819. Donizetti has written an opera entitled Lucia di Lammermoor, which has the same plot as the novel. Captain of the Popinjay, The.-The title given to the archer who shoots down the popinjay at the annual archery contest at Kilwinning, who is then master ite cause. Cottar's Saturday Night.-A poem by Robert Burns (1759-1796), forming a beautiful picture of a charming phase of Scottish peasant life. "The hint of the plan and title of the poem were taken from Ferguson's Farmer's Ingle." Counterblaste to Tobacco, A.-The name of a short treatise against the use of tobacco, written by James VI of Scotland, and published in London in 1604. Reprinted in Arber's "English Reprints." Duke of Darnick.-A nickname obtained by Sir Walter Scott from his excessive fondness for Darnick Tower, an ancient Border Peel near Melrose. Earl Beardie.-Name given to Alexander, fourth earl of Crawford (fifteenth century), from his great beard. Another name he had was the "Tiger Earl." Fowle Hangman.-The official who executed the sentences passed on breakers of the pest laws. See Extracts Records of Burgh of Edinburgh, iv, 418, 432. Gley'd Argyll.-Nickname applied to Archibald, eighth earl of Argyll (16071661). At a later time changed to "the gley'd Marquess." So called from a cast in his eyes. Great Unknown.-A name given by James Ballantyne to Sir Walter Scott, the author of the Waverley Novels, which, although published anonymously, attained great popularity. |