70 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



first spear. The fact is a hog goes so fast that 

 any craning or stopping to ' choose a better place/ 

 throws you out hopelessly, and the old hog-hun- 

 ters axiom of 4 where a hog can go a horse can 

 follow/ is nine times out of ten not only a true 

 one, but a safe one to follow. 



The great thing is to endeavour at all hazards 

 to keep the hog in sight ; for, once out of sight, he is 

 generally lost ; unless of course he can be marked 

 into a patch of cover from whence he cannot escape 

 unseen, and even then it is astonishing how a boar 

 will sneak away, though several sharp pairs of eyes 

 may be watching him. We will suppose a cover 

 is beaten a solitary boar breaks ; the word 

 1 Ride ' is given in low tones, but audible to all, 

 by the captain of the hunt, and away we all go 

 and devil take the hindmost ! 



The boar, hearing the rattle of the horses' hoofs 

 as they approach him, pauses for an instant to 

 listen, as if calculating if it is possible for him to 

 regain the cover he has just quitted. This being 

 decided in the negative in the porcine mind, he 

 lays himself out at his best speed to reach the 

 shelter of the next cover, which may be only a 

 quarter-of-a-mile or two miles distant, or perhaps 

 even more. If he has had a good start, the horses 

 have to do their best to get up to him, and if the 

 ground is rough and bad, of course the boar has a 



