104 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



stand in his stirrups, and point his hand, and give 

 the great cry, " woh-h-h jata," as he views a pig 

 half a mile away. We and the right dash out 

 together, but it is obviously their hunt, so we pull 

 up and watch our friends. Two of them are old 

 hands, the third is a youngster. It is interesting 

 to watch the latter as he gallops blindly on, wild 

 with excitement, but seeing nothing. The other 

 two are riding at a fast canter, scanning the country, 

 and turning sometimes a hurried glance back to 

 Puran for fresh signals as to the hog's line. Ap- 

 parently they both view together, for we hear two 

 faint yells, and see two spears both pointing, 

 though in different directions. There are two pig 

 afoot. Alas, the horizontal spear shows before 

 long that one is a sow. The other spear and the 

 boy by their actions and circling evidently have a 

 good ride and a determined fighter. 



Pig are plentiful, though for the present not much 

 in our way. The right have hardly remounted 

 when they are again signalled forward. After a 

 long hunt they pick up their pig, only to lose him 

 shortly after as they swing left-handed to the jheel. 

 But the left, led by the old spear X, have been 

 backing them up, expecting this, and we see X 

 suddenly riding hard. It is a strong heat ; they 

 are all up, and it is very good to see the horses 

 drop about a foot in height as they open from a hand 

 canter to full gallop. They kill their hog, a fine 

 one, and angry ; and we hear later from X that, 

 as he was backing up the right, he first saw for a 

 fraction of a second a faint flash of black above the 

 grass. It might have been, and was exactly like, 

 one of these low-flying king crows. However, it 

 was enough to set X in full gallop : a matter of 



