HOG-HUNTING. 87 



climbed, and then it was found that for some 

 time he had been fighting with his jaws and lips 

 completely useless, they having been pinned to- 

 gether, as it were by the first spear broken in him. 

 I once had a capital scuffle with a boar by myself. 

 I was the only member of the Hunt who turned 

 up at a place called Sonegaon, some eighteen 

 miles from Kamptee. However, as beaters were 

 ready, and a sounder of hog was marked down, 

 I determined to see what I could do. The ground 

 was fearful, nothing but a mass of hills covered 

 with rocks and stones, a maze of nullahs of all 

 sizes, and a quantity of stunted brushwood. Add- 

 ed to this, it was a fearfully hot day, and there 

 was not a particle of shade nearer than the camp, 

 some two miles distant. 



Well, the hog were soon started, and I c laid 

 in ' to the biggest, a nice young boar. I rode him 

 about half-a-mile, when he got into a fearfully 

 rough bit of ground, covered with scrub, and, 

 having to do all I could to keep my horse on his 

 legs, I lost sight of the animal. However, catch- 

 ing sight of a small pool of water some distance 

 ahead, I rode on, thinking the boar might have 

 gone there for a drink and a wallow. My surmise 

 proved correct, for, on getting up to it, there was 

 my friend, who promptly decamped on seeing me. 

 I soon got up to and closed with him on the side 



