CHAP. VI HUNTING ALONE 83 



a spear. I also find in myself, to my shame, a 

 tendency, when alone, to regard any difficult ground 

 as bad ground and go easy, thereby losing a pig 

 that I would certainly never have done had I been 

 in company. 



Before a man has any right to consider himself 

 no longer a novice, he should have killed one or two 

 boar alone. Nothing else will give him the requisite 

 confidence in his horse, his weapon, and himself. 



When alone on my trips, my dog Baskerville, 

 half bulldog and half foxhound, eighty pounds of 

 fighting bone and muscle, was my constant com- 

 panion. He was too heavy to keep up in a run, 

 but was nearly always in at the death, following 

 b}^ scent and ear. He was never badly cut by a 

 boar, though he ran many chances. 



Hunting with my brother-in-law. Major, now 

 Colonel, Short, R.H.A., while exploring unknown 

 country, we put up a 32 -inch boar, who ran in 

 circles. The boar had not been speared when 

 Baskerville got up and made his usual dart for the 

 off ear. He missed the ear, and I thought he would 

 be killed; but in his bound he turned half over, 

 seized the hog by the snout, and then hung on till 

 his foe was killed. He was untouched, but very 

 sore. It was the finest performance I have ever 

 seen. 



Once, when out with Baskerville near Delhi, I 

 came round a corner of ground and found him 

 seated in a little circle with two large wolves. All 

 three were on their hunkers, facing inwards, noses 

 almost touching. When I appeared the wolves 

 bolted, and Baskerville lumbered after them in a 

 make-believe pursuit. 



Poor old hound, he was never beaten in a fight. 



