148 



RECREATION. 



dotted with hog wallows. At the 

 first jump the sow was jerked clear 

 of the ground, and, I think, over 

 3 wallows, before she touched the 

 earth again. From that point she 

 seemed to hit the top of one and 

 bounce over 2. Tom was disgust- 

 ed at being left afoot 8 miles from 

 home. He ran up to/Jack, who had 

 caught the boar and' was holding it, 

 150 yards from me. They were both 

 destitute of string with which to tie 

 the pig and did not dare let go for a 

 minute. 



Tom asked Jack to lend him his 

 horse with which to catch his own ; 

 but Jack preferred to go after the 

 horse himself. So he turned the boar 

 over to Tom to hold, loosed the rope 

 from his saddle, threw it on the 

 ground, and lit out. 



Meantime I stood watching Jack 

 with one eye and my sow with the 

 other. Then I was startled by a yell 

 and saw Tom coming toward me at 

 top speed with the boar at his heels, 

 reaching for him with tusks 4 inches 

 long. 



I tried to tell Tom to run in some 

 other direction, but he was deaf to all 

 admonition and came on like a -stam- 

 peded steer. Finally he reached a big 

 mesquite bush round which he and 

 his friend the enemy played hide and 

 seek for a time. 



Presently Tom ran to me and said 

 the boar had gone off with his rope. 

 He wanted to borrow my horse with 

 which to recover it, but I said if he 

 would take a kindly interest in caring 



for my sow I. would get his rope. 



He agreed, and, throwing my rope 

 on the ground, I mounted my bronc 

 and went after the boar, which had 

 almost reached a cluster of black 

 chapparal. He was following a cow 

 trail in which the rope was dragging. 

 I made several attempts to pick up 

 the trailing rope without dismount- 

 ing, but the path in which it dragged 

 was too deep and I failed. At last, 

 spurring my horse up alongside, I 

 caught the rope and was just 

 straightening up when the boar, turn- 

 ing sideways, hit my horse a lick 

 which knocked his forefeet from 

 under him. 



I was thrown through the air in a 

 beautiful parabola, landing on my 

 back in the chapparal, whose thorns 

 were so thick that I lay there a foot 

 above ground and helpless. Had my 

 friend the boar seen fit to hunt me 

 then, he would have had a picnic ; but 

 much to my relief he didn't. 



When I got out, my horse was still 

 standing where he had been over- 

 thrown. Concluding I had had 

 enough pork, I mounted and went to 

 where I had left Tom holding the 

 sow. I found him ; not as I expect- 

 ed, with his prisoner tied, but stand- 

 ing on one side the same old mes- 

 quite tree, with the sow on the other, 

 glaring at each other. Both looked 

 tired. I caught the rope and together 

 we tied and left her for the wagon 

 to pick up. She was our only cap- 

 ture out of the whole bunch. The 

 biggest one got away. 



nnnm 



