. Pretty
soon he moved towards the elephant's rear, and thus reached a
corner of the _howdah_ which gave him almost as much space as the
length of a rifle. I saw the eye of the tiger turn first red and
then yellow, and heard the terrible snarl which he gives only
when he is sure of his prey. The quality of the snarl is such
that it paralyzes his victim.

[Illustration: WITHOUT ANY WARNING THE MAGISTRATE FIRED]

Seeing that the Englishman could do nothing and feeling sure that
he would be killed, I knew I had to do something. I stopped
swearing and with one terrible yell gave the elephant the master
call. He went forward and put his trunk around a very thick
branch of a tree and pulled it down with a great crash. That
instant the tiger looked at the direction from which the noise
had come. His head was near me now, and he did not know whether
to attack me or go back to his former prey. It seemed as if hours
passed. I was petrified with terror, yet I knew that if I let my
fright get possession of me, I would be killed. So I controlled
myself. Kari was now trying to strike the tiger with this trunk,
but he could not get at him.

Suddenly I realized that the Englishman not only had the rifle's
length between him and the tiger but was raising the rifle to
take aim. Knowing this, I took my flute and hit the tiger's
knuckles with it. He came toward me with his paw outstretched and
caught the shawl which was loosely tied around my waist. I was
glad to hear it tear because he had just missed my flesh. That
instant I saw the Englishman put the barrel of the rifle into the
tiger's ear. All I remembered was hot blood spurting over my
face. Kari was running away with all his might and did not stop
until he had crossed the clearing and disappeared beyond the
trees. He was not hurt, except that his side was torn here and
there with superficial wounds. When the beaters came, I made the
elephant kneel down. We both got off. The Englishman went to see
how big the tiger was while I led Kari in quest of my broken
flute. Toward sun-down when they had skinned the tiger, they
found its length to be nine feet, not counting the tail.

CHAPTER VIII

KARI AND THE QUICK-SAND

Though elephants are very unselfish animals, they behave like
human beings when brought to the last extremity. The following
adventure will show you what I mean.

One day, Kari and Kopee and I went to the river bank to help pull
a big barge up the river. T