266 



CUR AND WILD HOG. 



[CH. XV. 



little creature would wait until the gun was close to him, and then, 

 to prevent their running, would dash in and spring them. 



472. If a hog was in the wind, the cur dashed off immediately, 

 following the animal until it stopped at bay, when a shrill bark 



WARM GREETING OF A GREAT ' BORE.' Par. 472. 



warned the sportsman of the scene of action. The tiny animal had 

 many a scar on his rugged hide, cut by hogs, with whose ears and 

 heels he frequently took liberties ; but, up to the time that the 

 officer left that part of the world, the dog had escaped serious injury 

 by his good generalship and activity. He certainly had a very just 

 estimate of his own physical powers, for with young porkers he 

 stood on little ceremony, rushing into them at once, and worrying 

 and holding them until the hunter came to his assistance. 



473. You might draw a useful moral from this long story by 

 considering for a moment what kind of sport our Creole acquaintance 

 would have had, and what number of Guinea-birds, wild hogs, and 

 deer (capital shot as he was) he would have killed in the year, had 



the more active commoner. Al- 

 though the true Muscovy is very 

 coarse eating, the Hybrid is as 

 much an improvement upon the 

 flavour as it is upon the size of 



the common duck. I have known 

 the birds to be reared in this 

 country, and often wondered that 

 the plan was not more generally 

 pursued. 



