28 FACT AGAINST FICTION, 



belilncl you ! No. 2, to be on the back of a first-rate 

 and manageable horse, such as Taymouth was, and 

 to ride over the wild prairies in America after an old 

 savage bison bull, and to press him enough to make 

 him turn to bay on that immeasurable grassy plain, 

 with all his limbs free from any wound, and then 

 to evade his charge and kill him. The ^^vieux 

 sanglier,'' or old solitary wild boar in the French 

 forests, when he turns to bay in the most dense 

 thicket he can find in the woods, would be grand 

 and sublime if you could see liim in the attitude he 

 has assumed — unseen he is dangerous enough ; but 

 the beauty of this sylvan combat is lost, because 

 you only Imoiv the boar is there and ready to 

 charge, but you can't get a full sight of his fury 

 till he does charge, and then you either kill or 

 wound him ; or, if you are not quick enough to 

 stejD on one side the arrow-like speed of his blind 

 and headlong assault, you are killed or maimed 

 yourself, and thus in a few moments it is over, one 

 way or other. The next thing to the boar is the 

 bay of the stag or royal hart, but then when he 

 turns to bay, he is generally run almost to death 

 or wounded; and then comes the bay of a full- 

 antlercd buck. The next perfection of sport is the 



