SAKDIXIA AND ITS AVIIJ) SHEEP 25 



gotten something, his stumpy hhick \njdy |)h>iighiijg u[» 



the snow ;it every stride. F was the first to get hold 



of his litK'. all Amerieaii repeater, and began '" pnniping 

 lead ' with it. I I'ushed hack and laid hold of the first 



rifle 1 could find, which happened lo be G 's. lie was 



twenty yards off and could see the lun, but not having his 

 rifle could not a'et a shot in. \\ hen I -'ot into position 

 the boar was straight below lis, going at a great pace 

 through some burnt mncgnia^ where he showed plainly 

 a<xainst the snow anions the black stems. I fired a length 

 ahead of him. Some one said '• E f errata," and the beast 

 seemed to slacken his pace. Before I could load my 



sino-lc liaiiel ao-ain, F !j,ot in two more shots, and at 



the last, as it a]"]ieared, l)iggy rolled over among the 

 macquia. When we got down to him he was still sitting 

 up, cham[)ing iJood and foam. I got Celestin's big alpen- 

 stock firmlv ])hinted against his side, so that he could not 



charge, and F gave him the coup de (j nice with his 



hunting-knife. He was a fine boar, about as big as they 

 make them in this island, though less than the size they 

 attain on the mainland. Only one bullet had struck him. 

 and i)asscd clean ihnniii'h. Of course we assumed that 



this was F 's last shot, but after the "" L;ndlock we 



followed the track backwards and found that the blood 

 began one hundred yards from where he h'll. h was 

 therefore plain that the fatal shot might have been tired 

 by either of us, and the question would have remained for 

 ever unsolved if it had not been for a curious piece of 

 evidence. We carried the boar to the top of the ridge, 

 and, some further eleansini: beimj- necessarv, a small 

 battered piece of copper was found in his liver. Now 



