WILD HOGS. 
it was left for the West—that region where, 
if money is scarce, hearts are big and en- 
terprise is not manacled in fetters of gold— 
to make the humble passenger in the “day 
coach” comfortable. 
The only vacant seat was beside a Jew- 
ish rabbi. He did not view my coming 
with delight, but after an hour or 2 his 
prejudice thawed and he became a warm 
hearted, as he was a brilliant minded, com- 
panion. 
In the same car with me, only a few 
seats ahead, was a group—a young hus- 
band and wife, with 2 two little ones—in 
whom I became much interested. They 
were from Missouri, from the town which 
had just been wiped from the earth by a 
cyclone. “The baby coughed terribly and 
seemed threatened with croup. The young 
father left the care of it entirely to the 
weary mother, and she seemed ready to 
die from the ceaseless cere. If, now and 
then, the brute took the wailing little 
one, it was only to hold it in the open 
window, where, if the strong wind that 
479 
blew in bore to the father’s lungs the 
genial mildness of May, to the poor baby 
it carried the lurking deadliness of Dako- 
4a’s frost. | could “feel it}- “Ehey “were 
bound for some mining camp in Idaho. 1 
wonder if the baby lived to get there. 
Their train was waiting at Denver, and 
they pulled out at once. I had tried to be 
of some use to the gentle young mother, 
and I shook hands with them as they 
started for their car, bidding them good- 
by, and adjuring the great lout of a hus- 
band to take the baby off the mother’s 
hands and give her a few hours of rest, 
unless he wished to bury mother and baby 
both in Idaho. The lumbering savage did 
not seem to relish my advice, but there 
were tears in the tired woman’s eyes when 
she said farewell. 
If you wish to visit Denver and to come 
with comfort and speed, watched over and 
provided for by gentlemen, take the Great 
Burlington route, the royal highway to the 
grand, free, hearty West. 
WILD HOGS. 
Vie Vi.© Me. 
In ’96 I went with a party of friends to 
Eastern Texas to hunt wild hogs. We 
went by rail as far as Will’s Point. There 
we bought supplies and hired rigs to take 
us to the wildest part of the country. We 
first went to the Saline river, but were 
told by some farmers there that the wild 
hogs had all been killed out. We were 
much disappointed but decided to hunt 
anything we could find. 
One morning I stole away to hunt 
squirrels before any one was up. I had 
walked about 3 miles when my dogs dis- 
appeared. The woods toward which I 
was walking were about a mile away. I 
was in an opening of tall, dead weeds. 
There were no trees near me, but a short 
distance away there was a little bush 
about 9 feet high. I paid little attention 
to it at that time, but I shall always hold 
it dear in my memory, for had it not been 
for that bush I should have been torn in 
pieces. 
I sat down to rest and to fill my rifle 
magazine when to my horror I heard a 
‘sound I had never heard before, and hope 
never to hear again—the grunt of wild 
hogs. My first impulse was to climb a 
tree, but when I saw there was none I 
could reach my blood seemed to freeze. 
Had my hair been short it would have 
raised up like the bristles on the hogs. 
By the time I recovered from the first 
shock they were so close to me I could 
only dash to the bush and climb into it. 
Woman-like, I dropped my game bag, 
which left me with only a few cartridges 
in my rifle. 
Before I had settled myself 
in the tree the hogs bounded out into 
view. My dogs were after them and fight- 
ing them for all they were worth. One 
hog saw me and made a break for me. 
He reared up on the first fork of the 
bush and was about to get my foot, the 
only secure hold I had. Then I let the 
gun down between his eyes and fired. He 
fell back, but not dead. The noise at- 
tracted the attention of the other hogs 
and the war was on. I had no reinforce 
ment. nor could I retreat. The only thing 
I could do was to fight to a finish. 1 
shot and wounded 3 or 4 hogs. Then 
my ammunition gave out and I was in 
for it. I began pounding the hogs over 
the head with my rifleas they reared up on 
the bush, and the dogs caught them in 
the sides. We at last got the best of 
them, but I think every one was wounded 
in some way. They would run away for 
a few minutes and then come back more 
enraged than ever. Had my _ strength 
failed me it would have all been over with 
me. We gave them such a hard fight that 
at last they scampered away and did not 
come back. The one I shot first was so 
badly wounded he could not go away, but 
neither could he make any fight. 
After it was all over I fainted and fell 
from.the bush. When I recovered I found 
one of my dogs in bad shape. He had 
been torn and bitten so badly he only 
lived one hour. 
I reclimbed the tree and waited for my 
friends to come after me. My wounded 
hog began to recover somewhat and I 
would not have lost that hog for any- 
