46 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



go ; and the pig, with the magic wand swaying from his 

 flank, charged H., missed his horse, stumbled, recovered 

 desperately, stumbled again, and fell on his knees, to 

 sink slowly with a sigh on his side, and roll up the whites 

 of his game little eyes dead. 



Meanwhile a more animated scene was being enacted 

 nearer covert. 



A big boar, so fat that he had only cantered a short 

 distance into the open before lying up in wrath under a 

 bush, had been attacked ; but, in spite of several severe 

 wounds, had cut one horse, and regained the shelter of the 

 thick nctla. As we arrived on the scene, he had just made 

 good his retreat down-stream, leaving a beater nursing his 

 thigh, down which there trickled a thin red stain ; while, 

 further on, a rider, more rash than the rest, had fallen, 

 horse and all, over a steep bank, and had just been propped 

 up, gazing vacantly into space. However, a bottle of soda 

 soon pulled him round. 



An uproar arising still further down-stream we hurried 

 thither, and found the old pig, weak from loss of blood, 

 standing behind some thick bushes. Edging round, I 

 found him facing me down a tiny path in the jungle, his 

 small eyes blazing with fury, and drew up the mare and 

 lowered the spear point none too soon, for instantly making 

 up his mind, and acting on his resolution like the good pig 

 he was, out he came. Had he been fresher I fear there would 

 have been good reason to bewail the folly of trying to take a 

 charge at the halt, as it was only by thrusting downwards, 

 with all the strength at my command, that I kept him down 

 as he passed under the mare's belly, and crack ! went the 

 stout bamboo shaft, snapping in two just above the 

 blade, as a rustle behind told us he had regained his 

 sanctuary. 



