Aiming for a point midway between the gleaming orbs he pressed the trigger.  It takes a well-aimed weapon to kill a royal Bengal tiger, even at a short distance, but Jack’s rifle was well aimed.  The tiny sphere of lead darted through the brain and along the spinal marrow as if fired with the vicious energy of a charge of dynamite.

It so happened that the tiger was in the act of making his graceful but fearful leap that was to land him upon the breast of the young man, who had risen to his feet just before firing.  The check at that instant produced a queer result, the like of which is not often seen.  The shock of the bullet crashing into the head of the muscular beast at the instant he was calling into play his prodigious strength intensified that strength to a sudden and astonishing degree.  The consequence was that the tiger, instead of making the leap he intended, made one twice as great and overshot the mark.  From out the gloom the beautiful sinewy body, of which only a glimpse could be caught, emerged as if fired from the throat of a Columbiad and, curving over the shoulders of the man and the boat, dropped into the stream with a splash that sent the water flying in every direction.

Beyond the line of shadow, where the faint moonlight fell upon him, the tiger was seen to be a beast of extraordinary size.  He emitted one rasping snarl while sailing through the air, but was already dead when he fell into the water, where it could not be seen he had made a struggle.  The sinewy body dipped out of sight, bobbed up again and the next minute was swept beyond view by the rapid current.

Rather strangely, not one of the women was awakened by the report of the rifle so near them, and of the men Dr. Marlowe and Anderson were the only ones who rose to a sitting posture and anxiously inquired the cause of the firing.

“I discovered an animal prowling near the boat,” replied Jack, who thought it well not to disturb them with the whole truth, “and I winged him.”

“You are sure you killed him?” asked the doctor; “most likely it was a tiger.”

“I am quite sure of that, and am just as sure that, considered strictly as a tiger, he is of no further account.  I made another bull’s-eye in his case.”

“How many is that?” asked the physician, entering into the spirit of the jest.

“My fifth, counting only those that I am sure of.”

“You are doing well; keep it up; let the good work go on,” replied the elder, again adjusting himself for slumber, quite content to leave the valiant young American in charge of the boat and its occupants.  Jack had it in mind to question him about that distant murmuring sound that puzzled him, but when ready to do so he discovered that the doctor was again asleep and he did not disturb him.

The fact that one denizen of the jungle had paid the boat a visit was ground for looking for a call from another.  Jack remained, therefore, on the alert, and though under ordinary circumstances he would have fallen asleep he kept wide awake until the growing light in the sky told of the coming day.  Before the sun was fairly above the horizon all were astir.  They bathed faces and hands in the roiled water and greeted one another with thankfulness that the night had passed without harm to any member of the little company.