THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 15 



was convinced the ''sounder" could not 

 be far off. Dragging, therefore, our dimi- 

 nutive prize after us, we made all due 

 preparation for the reception of the old 

 hogs. 



We were screwing our courage to 

 the sticking place, when a shot on our 



right from Captain P caused our 



pulses to beat in double quick time. We 

 were not long kept in suspense, for the 

 lady mother soon made her appearance, 

 and in no very gentle mood either. Cap- 

 tain P had hit her in that ignoble part 



of her person, which, when she looked to- 

 wards the east, faced the west ; this argu- 

 ment a posteriori had not put her in the 

 best of humours, and her wrath had in all 

 probability been excited by the desertion 

 of her young fry. 



I had not much time left me for philo- 

 sophizing, as the sow, having stolen a 



