78 THE RED FOREST AND 



i 



which I saw. Moreover, I had never seen a wild 

 boar before this morning, and now as I contem- 

 plated my fallen foe a strange uneasiness beset me. 

 There was something so homely in the innocent 

 face of that dead pig, that my heart for a moment 

 misgave me. But I banished these foolish qualms, 

 the reaction after my triumph probably; and as I 

 heard the tootle of my friend's horn approach I 

 sat myself down on a broad side of bacon and 

 indulged in a victorious whoo-oop. And now the 

 bushes part asunder, and R., taking in the position 

 at a glance, bursts into a cheer and loads me with 

 praise. But, alas ! what is this ? As my friend 

 approaches, slowly the gay smile fades, the ap- 

 plauding voice is still ; the horn drops from his 

 nerveless grasp, and the merry little visage 

 lengthens out in a telescopic fashion truly awful 

 to behold. l Moe domaschne kaban ! ' Those were 

 the fatal words that first left his erst joyous 

 lips l My own house pig ! ' 



The blow was too awful, too sudden. In my 

 pride I fell. Gradually the fact was borne in on 

 my already half-awakened mind : ' wild boars are 

 black, but this beast was white.' I had come some 

 thousand miles to slay a beast which I might have 

 found in any sty at home; I had accepted my 

 friend's hospitality, and rewarded it by slaying his 

 one cherished porker. How I smoothed him do\vn 

 I don't know, but I did it somehow. As for 



