30 A Sportswoman in India 



have been sacrificed to pig. When a pig comes to bay 

 in a place which is either inaccessible or else would 

 involve danger to a horse, there is, after all, nothing left 

 for it but to attack him on foot. It is said to be " an 

 act of madness which many young sportsmen practise, 

 but which in time gives way either in deference to the 

 severe admonition of rips and bites, or to that cooler 

 mode of acting which results from experience." S., 

 I know, had a great tussle once : he had been riding 

 after a pig, and had no one with him but his servant 

 on a second horse. They came up with the pig, who 

 was slightly wounded, in a place which was rocky and 

 precipitous it was a corner with an old cave in the 

 background ; behind the great boulders the pig was 

 standing. There was no other way of reaching him 

 except on foot, for a horse could not have turned among 

 the rocks and would have been worse than useless. 

 Throwing his reins to his servant, S. walked towards 

 the boar, his syce calling out to him very encouragingly, 

 " Khabardar, sahib ! khabardar ! bar a khirab janwar / " 

 (" Take care, sahib ! take care ! very wicked animal ! ") 

 The pig's wicked little eyes were glued upon S., 

 and as his enemy drew closer to him, he gathered 

 himself together, and, giving a savage grunt, charged 

 straight at S. From that position on the ground 

 his great head would seem to entirely cover his chest, 

 the rigid bristles of the neck tremble and heave in an 

 agony of rage, the great teeth snap, their foam squirts 

 in S.'s face. He comes ! And now is the time 

 to grasp the spear tight, bend forward, and send up 



