2 The Tiger on the Hudson.

just escaped me, and was running for his life.
I was after him like a flash, when suddenly, I
saw a white man standing directly in my way,
and who did not seem in the least afraid. At
this, my rage knew no bounds, for men always
fled from me in terror. I lashed my tail savagely,
growling all the time. I opened my mouth that the
white man might see my long pointed teeth, and I
put my gloriously sharp claws in and out, keeping
my eyes upon him all the time. He was a tall,
thin man, with brown fur covering the lower part
of his face. Why did he stand so fearlessly there?
How did he dare to brave me? In his hand he
held a common black stick, which he had raised to
his shoulder and held pointed at me. Roaring
louder in my rage, I crouched lower and lower,
and then gathering myself together, was just about
to spring upon him, when suddenly, without a
moment's warning, the common little black stick
in the man’s hand, durst// Out of the end
rushed fire and flame. Gaug/ Bang /—some-
thing hit me—a red cloud came before my eyes—
I knew no more. And that’s how I came to be