XVII 
THE BOAR 
123 
accompanied by my brother; for five years preceding 
I was quite alone, excepting the presence of my 
huntsman, and occasionally accompanied by a friend. 
The success throughout the entire period was in the 
same proportion as that enumerated in the diary. 
Although many wild boars were killed, they were 
never objects of the hunts, but, on the contrary, they 
were if possible avoided, as an encounter invariably 
resulted in the sacrifice of hounds, either killed, or 
incapacitated by serious wounds. 
It was no easy matter to call the hounds off a 
scent when in the wild forest, where they could 
run riot at their own free will, and there was no 
means of reaching them. 
If I saw the fresh tracks of a large boar, I 
always endeavoured to collect the pack, and secure 
the hounds in couples, in order to prevent them 
from following upon the inviting scent. But too 
frequently I heard the opening notes of a leading 
hound before I could gather my pack together; 
in that case there was no longer any hope, as the 
hounds would immediately join in full cry, and 
there was nothing more to do but to await the 
event. 
A boar never runs for any great distance before 
the hounds ; it goes straight away at the first burst, 
but quickly turns, first up one ravine, then down 
another, and comes to bay after a run of about 
ten minutes, in some difficult bit of thick thorns or 
tangled bamboo, or any other place of refuge, 
in which it can face the hounds, and at the 
