150 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



my seat, and wheeling round I soon closed again with the 

 boar. In front of us lay a cactus hedge, fifteen feet high, 

 and seeing that he would escape unless I speared before he 

 arrived at it, I crammed my horse at him. Before he could 

 reach the hedge my spear was into him ; but, though badly 

 wounded, he struggled on, and passing through a gap got 

 away. 



Fortunately, at this moment, I was joined by Bulkley, 

 who came up on the other side, and, meeting the boar, turned 

 him back. He was afraid again to face the open ; but, stick- 

 ing to the hedge, whose overhanging branches prevented our 

 getting at him, he kept dodging back towards the sugar-cane, 

 which was not far distant. Judging that if he could only 

 reach its friendly shelter he would be safe from his pursuers, 

 he at length made a rush. Just then I found an opening in 

 the cactus, and, joining Bulkley, we raced after him. 



About fifty yards from the canes was a steep green slope, 

 at the top of which we both speared him at the same instant. 

 Bulkley drove his spear from his stern to his chest, while 

 mine passed through across his body, and as we let them go 

 the transfixed boar rolled down the slope and lay dead at the 

 bottom. 



Altogether it was a most exciting chase, and we had 

 reason to congratulate ourselves on the finish, for had we not 

 slain the boar when we did, he would have reached the canes, 

 and we should not again have been able to make him break 

 cover. 



Suspecting that my horse had got badly pricked by the 

 mimosa thorns, I dismounted and examined his head. I 

 found one spike driven through the cartilage of his nose, and 

 another broken short off, just above the eye. Both were so 

 firmly imbedded that I had to draw them out with my teeth 



