have an execution in the house.  We had been careful not to utter a word, and, silently pressing each other by the hand, we slipped into the water; and, recommending ourselves to Providence, struck out manfully.  I must own I never felt more assured of destruction, not even when I once swam through the blood of a poor sailor—­while the sharks were eating him—­for the sharks then had something to occupy them; but this one had nothing else to do but to look after us—­we had the benefit of his undivided attention.

My sensations were indescribably horrible.  I may occasionally write or talk of the circumstance with levity, but whenever I recall it to mind, I tremble at the bare recollection of the dreadful fate that seemed inevitable.  My companion was not so expert a swimmer as I was, so that I distanced him many feet, when I heard him utter a faint cry.  I turned round, convinced that the shark had seized him, but it was not so; my having left him so far behind had increased his terror, and induced him to draw my attention.  I returned to him, held him up, and encouraged him.  Without this he would certainly have sunk; he revived with my help, and we reached the sandy beach in safety, having eluded our enemy, who, when he neither saw nor heard us, had, as I concluded he would, quitted the spot.

Once more on terra firma, we lay gasping for some minutes before we spoke.  What my companions thoughts were, I do not know; mine were replete with gratitude to God, and renewed vows of amendment; and I have every reason to think, that although Charles had not so much room for reform as myself, that his feelings were perfectly in unison with my own.

We never repeated this amusement, though we frequently talked of our escape and laughed at our terrors, yet, on these occasions, our conversation always took a serious turn; and, upon the whole, I am convinced that this adventure did us both a vast deal of good.

[ILLUSTRATION:  HUNTING THE TIGER]

HUNTING THE TIGER.

A Gentleman in the civil service of the British East India Company, relates the following: 

“When a tiger springs on an elephant, the latter is generally able to shake him off under his feet, and then woe be to him.  The elephant either kneels on him and crushes him at once, or gives him a kick which breaks half his ribs, and sends him flying perhaps twenty paces.  The elephants, however, are often dreadfully torn; and a large old tiger clings too fast to be thus dealt with.  In this case it often happens that the elephant himself falls, from pain, or from the hope of rolling on his enemy; and the people on his back are in very considerable danger both from friends and foes.  The scratch of a tiger is sometimes venomous, as that of a cat is said to be.  But this does not often happen; and, in general, persons wounded by his teeth or claws, if not killed outright, recover easily enough.