Scarcely had they formed their alliance for war, when they set out for the enemy. Their chief foe was the tigers and snakes, because these were most numerous, although there were some lions, pachyderms, bears, and other savage beasts, of which also they meant to rid the country. One proposed that they all start out together, saying that while they would thus be fighting as a whole, the enemy, which would be fighting singly, could be easily overcome. Shamboo opposed this plan, however, as likely to attract too much attention, and, perhaps, to cause the tigers also to confederate. “Let us,” he said, “indeed, fight each enemy singly; but it does not require more than three apes to kill one tiger.” They accordingly broke up into small bands, and started on a tiger hunt. On the first day of the War of the Beasts, a body of three, led by Shamboo, climbed a Yew tree near the Swamp, where a great tiger was known to come to slake his thirst. It was agreed, or rather laid down by Shamboo as the method of attack, that when the tiger should pass under the tree, one of them, the youngest and strongest, should drop upon the tiger’s back, and fasten his jaws in his neck, when the rest would follow and dispatch their victim. [Illustration: SHAMBOO’S RIDE.] Scarcely had this been resolved upon, when the tiger appeared, marching slowly toward their tree. He was carrying a sheep in his mouth, and his great show of muscular strength and fierce expression seemed to despise danger. The ape who had been chosen to drop on the tiger drew back in fear, and told Shamboo to do that part himself. No time was to be lost, and, before the words of the timid ape were fully uttered, Shamboo dropped upon the tiger. His great weight crushed the beast to the ground, and compelled it to let go of the sheep. The tiger immediately got up, however, and, not knowing what to do, in his embarrassment, started on a full run. Shamboo clung to his back, and away they both went, like John Gilpin, dashing over hill and dale and through jungle and forest. The deer fled at their approach, squirrels ran up the trees, a flock of ducks started from a pool near by, and the flight of birds and beasts from their path was like the stampede which precedes a prairie fire. Shamboo’s teeth were fixed in the tiger’s neck, and his feet like spurs were sunk in his sides.