"Isn't it, though?" returned the Hungry
Tiger, licking his lips with his long red tongue.
That naked thing running to and fro makes a monkey-jest of those who have once been good hunters, and pulls the best of us by the whiskers for sport." This was Shere Khan, the Lame
Tiger, limping down to the water.
"We will do that gladly," returned the
tiger; and all the other beasts roared with a mighty roar: "We will!"
If the millionaire had been let alone he would have devoured the
tiger."
Straight as a torpedo it rushed for Delcarte, and, as Taylor and I stumbled on through the tall grass toward our unfortunate comrade, we saw the
tiger rear upon him and crush him to the earth.
Time and again the colossal bull tossed the enormous
tiger high into the air, but each time that the huge cat touched the ground he returned to the encounter with apparently undiminished strength, and seemingly increased ire.
"There will be lots of fat babies at the celebration, I hear," remarked the Hungry
Tiger, yawning so that his mouth opened dreadfully wide and showed all his big, sharp teeth; "but of course I can't eat any of 'em."
To his amazement, if such a thing be possible in the mental processes of a
tiger, the rear door to his cage was thrown open and left open.
And this is the Hungry
Tiger, the terror of the jungle, who longs to devour fat babies but is prevented by his conscience from doing so.
The use of their pocket electric lights was a great help, and possibly served to ward off the attacks of jungle beasts, for as they tramped along they could hear stealthy sounds in the underbush on either side of the path, as though
tigers were stalking them.
Sometimes half the horde would follow from overhead a
tiger or lion that had ventured out in the daytime.
Shere Khan was the
tiger who lived near the Waingunga River, twenty miles away.