Probably through a mere
fluke, for I hadn't the remotest idea which of the trees offered the
best facilities to a poor climber. My mind once made up, there was no
time to alter. The wer-tiger was already terribly close behind. I could
gauge its distance by the patter of its feet--apparently the
metamorphosis had only been in part--and by the steadily intensifying
purr, purr; so unmistakably interpretative of the brute's utter
satisfaction in its power to overtake me, as well as at the prospect of
so good a meal. I was just thirteen stone, seemingly a most unlucky
number even in weight! Had the tiger wanted, I am sure he could have
caught me at once, but I fancy it wished to play with me a little
first--to let me think I was going to escape, and then, when it had got
all the amusement possible out of me, just to give a little sprint and
haul me over. Perhaps it was my anger at such undignified treatment of
the human race that gave a kind of sting to my running, for I certainly
got over the ground at twice the speed I had ever done before, or ever
thought myself capable of doing. At times my limbs were on the verge of
mutiny, but I forced them onward, and though my lungs seemed bursting, I
never paused. At last a clearing was reached and the kulpa-tree stood
fully revealed. I glanced at once at the trunk. The lowest branch of any
size was some eight feet from the ground. . . . Could I reach it?
Summoning up all my efforts for this final, and in all probability
fatal, rush, I hurled myself forward. There was a low exultant roar, a
soft, almost feminine purr, and a long hairy paw, with black, gleaming
claws shot past my cheek. I gave a great gasp of anguish, and with all
the pent-up force of despair clutched at the branch overhead. My
finger-tips just curled over it; I tightened them, but, at the most, it
was a very feeble, puny grasp, and totally insufficient to enable me to
swing my body out of reach of the tiger. I immediately gave myself up as
lost, and was endeavouring to reconcile myself to the idea of being
slowly chewed alive, when an extraordinary thing happened. The wer-tiger
gave a low growl of terror and, bounding away, was speedily lost in the
jungle. Fearing it might return, I waited for some time in the tree, and
then, as there were no signs of it, descended, and very cautiously made
my way back to the village.

"That night an entire family, father, mother, son, and daughter, were
murdered, and their mutilat