Jim Travers felt that he was lost.

The women uttered cries of anguish, clasped their hands, and almost fainted.
Sometimes, however, a person instinctively does the best thing possible, when, if he took time for thought, he would do the worst.
The antipathy of wild beasts to fire is well known, but it must be remembered that the full degree of this terror is felt only during the darkness of night.

The sun was in the horizon when the stirring events we have set out to narrate were going on.
When Jim came tumbling through the window, he held fast to the blazing torch, even while trying to save himself from falling.

His dexterity enabled him to keep fair command of his limbs, and he bounded to his feet in a twinkling, at the moment when he expected Tippo Sahib to come down upon him like a clawing avalanche.
Then, instead of turning about and clambering back through the window (the surest means of inviting the attack of the beast), he uttered a shout, and, holding the torch in front, ran straight at the tiger! It may be doubted whether the fiercest of wild creatures would have withstood such an assault.

Even though the sun was shining, the tiger knew something of the meaning of that glowing brand.