Hog- hunt ing. 2 1 1 



was an out-and-out sportsman, plucky to a degree, a 

 splendid shot, a good rider, and considerably under 

 thirty, while I was over forty. He weighed about 

 ten stone, I twelve. His mare was close on fifteen 

 hands, and he had ridden her after pig. Mine had 

 had no such experience, and was a hand and a half 

 lower, so the handicapping was all against me. In a 

 straight run I should have been nowhere, but in hog- 

 hunting even the slowest of horses has now and then 

 a chance, particularly when the pig is a "jinker." 

 Moreover, I was tired of eternally being on the back 

 of an elephant, and welcomed the chance of a gallop, 

 even should I not be able to draw first blood. To be 

 early at work, we crossed over from the right to the 

 left bank of the river over night, sleeping in an 

 unused cattle-shed, so we were up and away by the 

 dawn. The jemadar, on a small elephant, was wait- 

 ing for us, and so receiving his orders off he went, 

 and in about half an hour we could see the line of 

 beaters advancing towards us. W. was ensconced be- 

 hind a patch of long grass on the right, I was simi- 

 larly concealed a little to the left, with an interval of 

 about fifty feet between us, having previously arranged 

 that we were only to follow boars, and to let them 

 pass us and get well ahead before we " laid in," so as 

 to prevent their breaking back. The terrain, though 

 not quite a plain, was ridable for fully three miles ; 

 but these pigs carry an immense quantity of flesh, as 

 their feeding-grounds are close by, so they were not 

 likely to run far. The mahouts were instructed to 

 shout only when a boar broke, otherwise to advance 

 silently. In less than a quarter of an hour there was 

 a hubbub all along the line, the mahouts shouting and 



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