A MISADVENTURE. 69 



staut, while he kicked out at the same time with all his 

 strength. This proceeding so completely disconcerted the pig 

 that it withdrew sulkily towards the water, leaving R on the 

 ground much cut and bleeding profusely. 



Having remarked the nature of the wounds on R's legs, 

 thighs, and hands, as well as the way in which they were 

 given, I communicated my suspicions to W. F., our President, 

 who agreed with me ; accordingly, the following day, at pre- 

 cisely the hour at which R had been assailed and upset, viz., 

 just a little before sunset, F. and I walked our horses to the 

 scene of the encounter and watched the marsh, spear in hand 

 and horses at the stand. We stood thus some twenty paces 

 apart for a few minutes only, when from the rushes and water 

 emerged a large hog, which, after a moment's inspection of 

 us, charged at full speed, tail and bristles standing on end, 

 selecting me and my horse as its special objective. Moving 

 promptly forward to get way on my nag, I was prepared to 

 deliver my spear, when the hog passed on without pushing 

 home the charge, whereon, throwing up my blade, I joined F. 

 and told him that it was as we surmised, information re- 

 ceived by him with a bland smile and a low chuckle. We 

 kept our secret, and never let it be known that poor R had 

 been so badly treated by an immense old sow, whose couch 

 in the jheel he had unwittingly approached. I noticed, as she 

 passed almost under my spear-point, that she had tushes an 

 inch in length or more, with which some of the wounds had 

 been inflicted ; but others, especially those on the hand and 

 arm, were given with the teeth when she seized them in her 

 mouth. Had R's assailant been a boar, the consequences 

 would most probably have been fatal, since his position was 

 such as to offer his whole front to its fearful rips ; and what 

 such an animal can do I once witnessed when a large one, 

 meeting a youth of sixteen upon a village path, ripped him 

 with one upward stroke from the groin to the upper part of 

 the chest. 



The wild swine of Bengal are not addicted to unseemly 

 pranks, and very rarely come out as comic characters, but 



