PIGS 



bruised, the haft of the spear still in his hand, but the blade 

 is gone. 



I look around for the rifle, and, when picking it up, 

 feeling a sharp pain in my hand, I discover a broken finger 

 unfelt in the excitement of the late incident ; but sincerely 

 do I regret the loss of that good old Deccan blade, with 

 which my father used to ride in the old days before the 

 Mutiny. 



We hunted for yards around for days, but never found 

 it, though a year later we killed a boar not far from the same 

 place, showing an old wound in his flank, and it is probable 

 he knew where that blade was dropped. 



This was an unlucky day, though we should have 

 counted it still more unlucky had a good hound been cut 

 up ; but the countrybreds are undoubtedly wary, and seem 

 to take the correct measure of their opponent at first sight. 



Wounds are usually the result of the hounds " pack- 

 ing " at a " bay," and if you are at hand when a hound gets 

 really caught by a pig, you must go in at once if you want 

 to save it. 



Unlike an elk, which fences and points like a swords- 

 man, or lashes out with its fore-feet, a pig will often 

 seize a hound and deliberately worry him with both tusks 

 and teeth. 



On one occasion, having bayed a very game boar under 

 a rock in thick scrub, I managed to crawl down to the 

 overhanging ledge, and having no spear, poked piggy with 

 a stick, with the result of causing him to charge out and 

 attack the hounds ferociously. 



Hearing a favourite dachshund in serious trouble, but 

 being only able to see furious agitation of the undergrowth, 

 I made a jump, which luckily landed me on the near flank 

 of the boar, who was busily engaged in " doing for " my 



321 x 



