“Just then he saw me,” said Mr. Caldwell, “and slowly pushed his great black-barred face over the edge of the grass not fifteen feet away.

“I fired point-blank at his head and neck.  He leaped into the air with the blood spurting over the grass, and fell into a heap, but gathered himself and slid down over the terraces.  As he went I fired a second load of slugs into his hip.  He turned about, slowly climbed the hill parallel with us, and stood looking back at me, his face streaming with blood.

“I was fumbling in my coat trying to find other shells, but before I could reload the gun he walked unsteadily into the lair and lay down.  It was already too dark to follow and the next morning a bloody trail showed where he had gone upward into the grass.  Later, in the same afternoon, he was found dead by some Chinese more than three miles away.”

During his many experiences with the Futsing tigers Mr. Caldwell has learned much about their habits and peculiarities, and some of his observations are given in the following pages.

“The tiger is by instinct a coward when confronted by his greatest enemy—­man.  Bold and daring as he may be when circumstances are in his favor, he will hurriedly abandon a fresh kill at the first cry of a shepherd boy attending a flock on the mountain-side and will always weigh conditions before making an attack.  If things do not exactly suit him nothing will tempt him to charge into the open upon what may appear to be an isolated and defenseless goat.

“An experience I had in April, 1910, will illustrate this point.  I led a goat into a ravine where a tiger which had been working havoc among the herds of the farmers was said to live.  This animal only a few days previous to my hunt had attacked a herd of cows and killed three of them, but on this occasion the beast must have suspected danger and was exceedingly cautious.  He advanced under cover along a trail until within one hundred feet of the goat and there stopped to make a survey of the surroundings.  Peering into the valley, he saw two men at a distance of five hundred yards or more cutting grass and, after watching intently for a time, the great cat turned and bounded away into the bushes.

“On another occasion this tiger awaited an opportunity to attack a cow which a farmer was using in plowing his field.  The man had unhitched his cow and squatted down in the rice paddy to eat his mid-day meal, when the tiger suddenly rushed from cover and killed the animal only a few yards behind the peasant.  This shows how daring a tiger may be when he is able to strike from the rear, and when circumstances seem to favor an attack.  I have known tigers to rush at a dog or hog standing inside a Chinese house where there was the usual confusion of such a dwelling, and in almost every instance the victim was killed, although it was not always carried away.

“There is probably no creature in the wilds which shows such a combination of daring strategy and slinking cowardice as the tiger.  Often courage fails him after he has secured his victim, and he releases it to dash off into the nearest wood.