WILD BOAR HUNTING 279 



"As the bronco moved up, broadside on, utterly unable to 

 look the strange beast in the face, the hunter Lifted his rifle 

 and attempted to aim and hold the bronco in place at the same 

 time. It was a difficult proposition. At the sHghtest let-up 

 the horse would turn, frantic with fear. Then the hunter 

 elevated his rifle with one hand and let it drop revolver fashion, 

 intending to fire as it covered the game. 



"Down it came, and just about as the hunter was about to 

 pull the trigger, wouf! came the escaping steamlike note from 

 the red, dripping mouth. The rifle went off, the boar charged, 

 and the bronco jumped ten feet, it seemed to the two men 

 looking on, and came down stiff-legged in an awful buck, 

 sending the rider into the air. They saw the boar charge, 

 and spurring their broncos they rushed down the slope to 

 interfere. Manuel leaped to the ground with his rifle ready 

 to fire and literally jerked the dismoimted sportsman from the 

 boar, which, however, was dead. It had died before it had 

 an opportunity to use its tusks. The boar was a type of the 

 savage bush pig, tall, long, and slender; muscular, with heavy 

 crest, powerful head, and tusks long and sharp. 



'"I don't know whether the bullet killed the brute or I 

 crushed him to death,' said the hunter, 'but it was a close 

 call for me. I have seen a wild boar in India run fifty yards 

 with a hole in his heart. Levison, a man in my regiment, shot 

 a big boar on the charge. The animal went by him, blinded 

 in some way, and did not stop, but came for me, I being next 

 in the trafl. I tried to fire but missed, and just as the brute 

 reached me it staggered and fell dead. I understand grizzlies 

 will perform the same seemingly impossible feat.' 



"Manuel hauled the boar into the shade, intending to return 

 for the head as a trophy, and the party moved up the canon, 

 crossed over to the windward side, and stood on the summit, 

 where the cool wind blew in from the inimitable Pacific. Fol- 

 lowing along a ridge they descended again, and Manuel led 

 them into a long, narrow canon which seemed to be populated 

 with quail and doves alone. When they had reached the end 

 of it, where a Httle mesa or bench appeared on the slope, a 

 small pig was seen standing in the trail fifty yards ahead. It 

 looked at them a moment, then turned tail, and with a wouf, 



