78 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



Indeed, there are stories enough of the Indian 

 boar's pluck and vitality to fill a book by them- 

 selves, though none perhaps more significant 

 than one told in an old book of a boar and 

 tiger being found dead side by side. As an 

 illustration of the strength and vitality of these 

 die-hards, the following story has struck me as 

 remarkable. A sportsman came suddenly on 

 an old boar in the jungle and took a snapshot, 

 hitting it too far back. (It should be mentioned 

 that it is etiquette in British India to shoot 

 boars only in jungle-country where they cannot 

 be ridden after.) The animal at once charged, 

 and in such a desperate hurry that the man 

 had no time to reload, but instinctively held 

 his rifle, a heavy weapon, crosswise before him 

 to take the shock of the charge. The boar 

 took the narrow neck of the weapon, near the 

 trigger, between its teeth and bit clean through 

 it. Then it knocked the sportsman over and 

 started ripping him with its tusks, but it was 

 too badly hurt itself to do much damage, and 

 soon went a little distance and sat down, 

 breathing heavily, and evidently in a bad way. 

 This encounter took place towards sunset quite 

 near the sportsman's bungalow, and to this he 

 now managed to crawl without the boar show- 

 ing further fight. Next morning he went in 

 search of it, taking another rifle for safety's 

 sake, though fully expecting to find a dead 



