THE SOLITAIRE AT BAY. 
239 
In entering tlie gorge, the cunning solitaire has forced his speed 
in order to fray a passage and to prepare his batteries. 
Now for you, English gentlemen ; here is the road — enter — it 
is only a little narrow, consider. Ten dogs dart abreast into the 
dangerous passage, borne onward by the same ardor ; they throw 
each other down, tear themselves, get entangled. Wait; here is 
some one that will put a stop to this disorder and clear the pass. 
From the post that he has chosen, and where he firmly expects 
his cloud of enemies, his eyes red with blood, his mouth foaming, 
the solitaire falls like a thunder-clap into the midst of his sur- 
prised assailants. He rips their bellies open, mutilates, cuts all 
that come within his reach ; the way is cleared ; the two first dogs 
the monster has met lie on the ground scai’cely writhing in their 
last convulsions amid the thick bed of thorns where the boar’s 
tusks have sent them. 
Their chests are opened from the sternum to the shoulder. 
Three or four other champions withdraw from the battle-field, ut- 
tering frightful howls that echo painfully in my soul. 
Their bowels issue from their bodies by large gashes ; they call 
Louis to their aid. Louis will come too late. 
Happy the dog that has turned in time to receive the tusk in 
the least damageable part of his person. 
It is thirty-seven minues past one .... Two dogs are extended 
dead — ten or twelve unfit for fighting. The hunters hasten up ; 
the groans of the victims tell where the drama lies ; the horse- 
men dismount and prepare to penetrate the thicket with gun and 
knife in hand. It must be mentioned, that when the wild boar is 
backed against the trunk of a tree, and engaged in a serious dis- 
cussion with the dogs, the sight of the hunter raises his anger to 
fury. It is usual enough with him in this case to leave his first 
adversaries and turn all his rage against the new comer. It is 
the moment that hunters that are somewhat of artists choose to lay 
out the animal. 
As he bursts straight upon you, nothing is easier than to lodge 
a ball between his eyes, especially with a little coolness and a gun 
that never misses fire. But if it is an easy matter elsewhere, it is 
very different at the Gorge. The briars of this chosen spot do not 
