A WILD HOG-HUNT IN TEXAS. 331 



I ran for the highest part of the log, but this proved 

 no security. The peccaries leaped up on it and followed. 

 I struck with the butt of my clubbed gun, and knocked 

 them off ; but again they surrounded me, leaping upward 

 and snapping at my legs until hardly a shred remained of 

 my trousers. I saw that I was in extreme peril, and put 

 forth all my energies. I swept my gun wildly around me ; 

 but where one of the fierce brutes was knocked off another 

 leaped into its place, as determined as he. Still, I had 

 no help, for it I shouted at the top of my voice, all the 

 while battling with desperation. 



I still kept on the highest point of the log, as there 

 they could not all come around me at once ; and I saw 

 that I could there better defend myself. But even with 

 this advantage, the assaults of the animal were so incessant, 

 and my exertions in keeping them off so continuous, that 

 I was in danger of falling into their very jaws from 

 exhaustion. I was growing weak and wearied. I was 

 beginning to despair for my life, when on winding my gun 

 wer my head, in order to give force to my blows, I felt 

 it strike something behind me. It was the branch of a 

 tree, that stretched over the spot where I was standing. 

 A new thought came into my mind. Could I climb the 

 tree I knew that they could -not and then I would be 

 safe. I looked upward ; the branch was within reach. I 

 seized upon it and brought it nearer I drew a long 



