80 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



own premises, but I am not sure they have not 

 omitted certain points. They dwell on the hunting 

 and riding a pig, but they make little mention of 

 the fight at the end — the reckless charge of an 

 angry boar which is surely the cream of the whole 

 sport. Does Major Garden make enough allowance 

 for the skill needed in locating, hunting, and 

 killing a pig, single-handed or with a friend in 

 unknown country ? Major Mackenzie knocks out 

 all element of competition. He is in accordance 

 with the accepted traditions of the sport as laid 

 down in every book on the subject that I have read. 



Yet I remember comrades, 

 Old playmates on new seas, 



when he and I were exploring new country, and 

 one of my greatest joys used to be a jostle with 

 him. That I seldom won did not lessen the pleasure. 



And there are two facts in pig-sticking which I 

 have never known disproved. 



Firstly, that more men comparatively go well 

 to hounds than to pig. In sixteen years' fairly hard 

 pig-sticking, I cannot count as numerous the men 

 absolutely brilliant all round in every branch of 

 this sport. 



And the other fact is, that men hunt with hounds 

 and go well up to quite an advanced age. I have 

 not seen five men of forty, and only two of forty-five, 

 who were real flyers pig-sticking. I used to put 

 thirty-five years as a limit to a man's pig-sticking 

 even moderately. But I have unluckily been 

 compelled to change my views. Does this mean 

 that pig-sticking makes a greater demand on nerve 

 than hunting ? I admit that a large fence with a 

 tired horse, and no knowledge of what lies beyond, 



