A Peccary Hunt on the Nueces 173 



three half-starved hounds, besides the funny, 

 hairless little house dogs, of which Mexicans 

 seem so fond. 



Having borrowed the javalina hound of 

 which we were in search, we rode off in quest 

 of our game, the two dogs trotting gayly 

 ahead. The one which had been living at 

 the ranch had evidently fared well, and was 

 very fat; the other was little else but skin and 

 bone, but as alert and knowing as any New 

 York street-boy, with the same air of disrepu- 

 table capacity. It was this hound which al- 

 ways did most in finding the javalinas and 

 bringing them to bay, his companion's chief 

 use being to make a noise and lend the moral 

 support of his presence. 



We rode, away from the river on the dry 

 uplands, where the timber, though thick, was 

 small, consisting almost exclusively of the 

 thorny mesquites. Mixed among them were 

 prickly pears, standing as high as our heads 

 on horseback, and Spanish bayonets, looking 

 in the distance like small palms; and there 

 were many other kinds of cactus, all with 

 poisonous thorns. Two or three times the 

 dogs got on an old trail and rushed off giving 

 tongue, whereat we galloped madly after them, 

 ducking and dodging through and among 



