In the evening we talked of the blue tiger for a long time before we spread our beds on the roof of the boat and went to sleep under the stars.  We left the boat shortly after daylight at Daing-nei for the six-mile walk to Lung-tao.  To my great surprise the coolies were considerably distressed at the lightness of our loads.  In this region they are paid by weight and some of the bearers carry almost incredible burdens.  As an example, one of our men came into camp swinging a 125-pound trunk on each end of his pole, laughing and chatting as gayly as though he had not been carrying 250 pounds for six miles under a broiling sun.

Mr. Caldwell’s Chinese hunter, Da-Da, lived at Lung-tao and we found his house to be one of several built on the outskirts of a beautiful grove of gum and banyan trees.  Although it was exceptionally clean for a Chinese dwelling, we pitched our tents a short distance away.  At first we were somewhat doubtful about sleeping outside, but after one night indoors we decided that any risk was preferable to spending another hour in the stifling heat of the house.

It was probable that a tiger would be so suspicious of the white tents that it would not attack us, but nevertheless during the first nights we were rather wakeful and more than once at some strange night sound seized our rifles and flashed the electric lamp into the darkness.

Tigers often come into this village.  Only a few hundred yards from our camp site, in 1911, a tiger had rushed into the house of one of the peasants and attempted to steal a child that had fallen asleep at its play under the family table.  All was quiet in the house when suddenly the animal dashed through the open door.  The Chinese declare that the gods protected the infant, for the beast missed his prey and seizing the leg of the table against which the baby’s head was resting, bolted through the door dragging the table into the courtyard.

This was the work of the famous “blue tiger” which we had come to hunt and which had on two occasions been seen by Mr. Caldwell.  The first time he heard of this strange beast was in the spring of 1910.  The animal was reported as having been seen at various places within an area of a few miles almost simultaneously and so mysterious were its movements that the Chinese declared it was a spirit of the devil.  After several unsuccessful hunts Mr. Caldwell finally saw the tiger at close range but as he was armed with only a shotgun it would have been useless to shoot.

His second view of the beast was a few weeks later and in the same place.  I will give the story in his own words: 

“I selected a spot upon a hill-top and cleared away the grass and ferns with a jack-knife for a place to tie the goat.  I concealed myself in the bushes ten feet away to await the attack, but the unexpected happened and the tiger approached from the rear.