BURNING OCT HOGS. 189 



As soon as all had taken their stations, a light was 

 applied to the reed-bed which, fanned by a gentle 

 breeze, soon burnt freely. Here and there, and in a 

 dozen places at once, the tall flags and rushes could 

 be seen shaking, as the hogs retreated before the 

 flames. Grradually, but surely, the tongues of flame 

 licked up the rough jungle, which each moment be- 

 came more and more contracted. 



Occasionally some of the younger and more inex- 

 perienced pigs broke from their covert, preferring the 

 chance of being fired at to being fired by the burning 

 grass ; but the older boars clung sullenly to the reeds, 

 and seemed determined to be burnt rather than leave 

 the shelter. 



Nearer and nearer came the fire ; and as the heat 

 of the burning grass and the crackling of the stout 

 stalks could be more plainly heard, the disturbance 

 in the remaining cover increased. At last, when they 

 could bear it no longer, out rushed the remaining 

 pigs — in number about thirty. 



Purvis, an old man of huge frame, was mounted 

 on a small narrow-made pony, which was able, perhaps, 

 to carry its owner's rifle, though not his person. At 

 the time the hogs broke covert he had fixed his eye 

 upon a tremendous boar, and rode to give him the 

 meeting. His rifle-bullet flattened upon the boar's 

 shield (the side-skin over the shoulder and ribs is so 

 called, and in old boars is frequently an inch and a 



