Tiger's Neck

In the mid-nineteenth century, two escaped convicts, Frank and Edward, gut a kangaroo in the bush of the Tasman Peninsula. A rugged neck in the distance connects the peninsular to the mainland. Edward urges Frank to keep moving as the neck is crawling with Tasmanian Tigers, but Frank believes the claim was fabricated by the guards to scare prisoners and prevent their escape. They hear the barking of dogs, and Edward immediately decides to surrender to the guards with Frank swearing he’ll never go back. As a Sergeant and his Corporal secure Edward, the Corporal sees a large Kangaroo limping towards the neck. He raises his rifle, but the Sergeant insists he save his bullets for Frank. They then discover what appears to be Frank’s body hanging from the branch of a tree with his cap pulled down over his face. Beneath the cap is the skinned head of the gutted Kangaroo. The Corporal assures the Sergeant that even if Frank crossed the neck, the tigers would eat him alive. But the Sergeant says that according to the Aborigines, the tigers avoid humans at all cost as they can’t stand the smell. They prefer natural prey like wallabies and roos. The guards curse, knowing that Frank has escaped. In the bush on the other side of the neck, Frank’s head emerges from the kangaroo skin, unaware he is surrounded by a pack of ravenous Tasmanian Tigers. He fooled them all!