It was a strange thing to see a creature of such prodigious physical energies, and with a disposition to exercise them whenever opportunity might present itself, throwing off the habits of its nature, and, as if by some supernatural transformation, exhibiting the very opposite qualities to those which are innate with all its race. The circumstance appeared to the merchant’s son a happy omen of his own future success, and in the strength of this expectation he proceeded on his way. As he was walking leisurely through a beaten path in the forest, he heard something strike a tree just before him, and raising his eyes perceived that an arrow was sticking into the bark. He turned his head, but there was no person visible, and he paused in some uneasiness. Whence the arrow had proceeded, or from whom, were alike a mystery. That he had been the object of the archer’s aim he could not for a moment imagine, as the shaft had struck in the trunk of the tree at least three feet above his head, and he knew too well the dexterity of Indian bowmen, whether warriors or robbers, to suppose that so false an aim could have been taken by anyone accustomed to the use of this weapon. He was perplexed; he knew not what to think. At length he saw the eyes of the tiger fixed as if upon some object in the thicket. Drooping its ears and gently undulating its tail, it dropped a moment on its belly, then bounded forward, and was in an instant lost in the thick undergrowth which nearly covered the whole face of the jungle. After a few moments a cry of agony was heard, which was answered by a stifled roar not to be mistaken. Eiz-ood-Deen rushed forward in the direction of the sound. He heard a low mumbling as he neared the spot, and making his way into a patch of small wood and jungle-grass, he there saw the tiger standing over a man’s body, which was dreadfully lacerated. Its paw was on the breast, into which the claws were fixed, the bone being in several places perfectly bare. The skull was crushed nearly flat, and the ferocious animal stood growling over its victim as Eiz-ood-Deen approached. A strung bow was lying by the side of the corpse, from which it was natural to conclude that this was the body of the man who had discharged the arrow into the tree. The tiger began voraciously to devour its prey; and when Eiz-ood-Deen approached, and placed his hand upon it, the creature gave a quick short growl, raised its paw suddenly, and struck him down. He was stunned a moment with the force of the shock, but, rising instantly, he retreated a few yards, and found to his extreme gratification, that the tiger’s claws had not been protruded when it struck, as there was no wound.