nd that tigers
and tigresses sometimes have the same kind of feelings that _we_ have.

_Both Tiger and Tigress Defend their Cubs_

I have told you that in a tiger family, when the cubs are very young,
they must be guarded all the time by either their father or their
mother. One day it happened that a tiger had killed a bullock. As he
could not carry it to his den, he first ate enough of the bullock to
satisfy his hunger. Then he came home to his den, and sent the tigress
out to eat her share, while he guarded their two cubs in the den.

But three English officers had gone hunting in the jungle, each of them
on an elephant; and it so happened that they came toward the tiger's
den.

The three hunters saw the tiger and the two cubs he was guarding. The
hunters knew that if they killed the tiger they could catch the two cubs
alive. So they fired their guns at once at the tiger; and as they were
then only about a hundred yards away, they all hit the tiger.

Now, if the tiger had not had the cubs to defend, there would not have
been much of a fight. Why? Because, as I shall tell you later, it
usually takes much more than three hunters on three elephants to hunt
one tiger. Each of the three wounds the tiger got might have killed or
disabled any other wild animal; but instead, the three wounds together
only made the tiger furious.

If he had been alone, he would have come like a flash of lightning at
the nearest elephant, leaped upon its back, and killed the hunter on
it--before the hunter could shoot again. Of course, the other two
hunters could then kill the tiger; but the tiger would at least have
killed _one_ of the hunters.

That is exactly what the tiger would have done, if he had been alone.
But the tiger had his children to defend. He must try to guard them as
well as he could. So he just took one of the cubs in his mouth--as you
have seen a cat take up her kitten--and leaped with the cub over a
thicket and hid the cub there.

Then he leaped back to the den to take away the second cub. That gave
the three hunters enough time to load and take aim again. So all three
of the hunters fired at the tiger again, just as he was lifting up the
second cub; and the bullets went through his heart. If he had been any
other animal, he would have dropped dead right there. But a tiger lives
about three seconds after he _ought_ to be dead; and in those three
seconds he can give just one leap and kill anything.

But the hunt