176 Hunting the Grisly 



pugnacity make them come to bay before 

 hounds so quickly. Two or three good dogs 

 can bring to a halt a herd of considerable size. 

 They then all stand in a bunch, or else with 

 their sterns against a bank, chattering their 

 teeth at their antagonists. When angry and 

 at bay, they get their legs close together, their 

 shoulders high, and their bristles all ruffled 

 and look the very incarnation of anger, and 

 they fight with reckless indifference to the 

 very last. Hunters usually treat them with 

 a certain amount of caution; but, as a matter 

 of fact, I know of but one case where a man 

 was hurt by them. He had shot at and 

 wounded one, was charged both by it and by 

 its two companions, and started to climb a 

 tree; but as he drew himself from the ground, 

 one sprang at him and bit him through the 

 calf, inflicting a very severe wound. I have 

 known of several cases of horses being cut, 

 however, and dogs are very commonly -killed. 

 Indeed, a dog new to the business is almost 

 certain to get very badly scarred, and no dog 

 that hunts steadily can escape without some 

 injury. If it runs in right at the heads of the 

 animals, the probabilities are that it will get 

 killed; and, as a rule, even two good-sized 

 hounds can not kill a peccary, though it is no 



