The blacksmith felt his organs clench as the first of the dogs, the bravely stupid, half-blind shepherd, reached the tiger and immediately went end over end as the big cat lashed at and then pinned him with all its enormous weight.
He was seen first by the gravedigger, a man who was nearly blind, and who did not trust his eyes to tell him that a tiger, braced on its hind legs, was rummaging through the churchyard garbage heap, mouthing thistles in the early-morning sunlight.