HUNTING PECCARIES IN TEXAS, 391 



There was a nobler quarry on foot, and we plunged our 

 horses eagerly into the narrow tracks opening into the 

 cane-brake in the direction of the chase. We soon found 

 ourselves riding beneath the matted arches formed by the 

 meeting of the cane-tops, bound together by vines, ten or 

 twelve feet above our heads. The cane on either side 

 formed a wall so close, and seemingly so impregnable, that 

 it seemed to me that a starved lizard would have found 

 difficulty in making its way between the stems. So long 

 as we could remain in the paths, of which there were but 

 few, it was all very nice and exciting to listen to the fitful 

 music of the chase ; but when it came bursting on us with 

 a roar of fitful yells, that made our horses shiver with 

 eagerness, and we scattered each man for himself, trusting 

 to his own ear, to enable him to intercept the chase, and 

 win the honor of the first shot, then the rough and fierce 

 realities of a bear hunt began to be realized. My fiery 

 horse plunged into the thickest of the brake, requiring my 

 whole strength to keep him within anything like bounds. 

 Xow the bear had commenced circling in short turns through 

 the tallest and most dense of the cane ; and very soon, when 

 the thundering chase went crashing past me, utterly invisible, 

 though within fifteen paces, my horse became entirely 

 unmanageable, and in three or four furious bounds, I was 

 torn from the saddle by the interlacing vines, through which 

 he was endeavoring to burst his way. I held on to the reins, 

 and recovered my seat, without stopping to count bruises ; 

 but the shock of the fall had brought me to my memory. 

 I now did what I should have done at first, had I retained my 

 self-possession, drew my heavy bowie knife, and commenced 

 cutting my way through the brake. Ho ! the chase has made 

 another tack ; and followed by the yells of my half-crazy 

 comrades, the wild route turns crashing and roaring towards 

 me again. This time my horse was even worse than before. At 

 the first plunge he again became entangled in the vines, and 



