66 ANIMALS AT WORK AND PLA Y 



the elephant stood firm, although it was gored by 

 the buffalo, which was then killed by another gun. 

 What is even more strange is that the elephant was 

 not ' gun-shy ' afterwards. Indian hunters, who have 

 experience of most wild animals of the Old World, 

 do not concede the highest claim for courage either 

 to the elephant, the rhinoceros, or the tiger ; we 

 have said enough to show the title of the wild dog 

 to respect ; but of the animals best known to the 

 hunter, the wild boar is by common agreement at 

 once the most fearless and the most collected in 

 danger. He will attack any creature that molests 

 him, and many, including men, that intend no harm. 

 When hunted on horseback he always fights to the 

 last, and though distressed by the long chase, often 

 conducts his defence with a skill and vigour which 

 enlist the reader's sympathy for the hunted rather 

 than the hunter. An old boar is said to be the only 

 animal which beats off the wild dogs, setting his 

 back against a tree and killing them until the pack 

 retire. The quality of the courage exhibited by the 

 boar is clearly different to the blind fury or insensi- 

 bility of the peccaries of South America, or the 

 ferocity of creatures like the hamsters, though it is 

 doubtful if any wild animal has equalled the c game- 

 ness' of the bull dog, which, when ordered by its 

 master, pinned a wild American bull bison by the 



