aid my uncle, coming
to my assistance; but the sow was too rapid in her movements, and, ere
he could reach me, charged furiously at his legs. Fortunately he
escaped her by springing with wonderful agility out of her way, and,
mounting on a chair, got up on the top of a chest of drawers, which
formed a convenient place of retreat. In the meantime I got on my legs,
and, seeing the savage sow was inclined to attack me, I sprang on to the
chest of drawers, the only safe place I could discover. Here we sat,
regularly besieged, for our weapons of offence and defence had been left
on the table. The sow, seeming to know the advantage she had gained,
kept eyeing us savagely. Indeed, unless we had thought it worth while
to run the risk of an attack from her, we saw that we must make up our
minds to remain where we were. The louder we shouted for help, the more
enraged the sow became, thirsting, as we had reason to believe, for our
blood. She was the lankiest, the tallest, and grisliest beast I ever
saw; her back, arching higher than a donkey's, resembled a rustic
bridge; her loose-flapping ears nearly hid her small sunken, fiery eyes,
their ends just covering one half of her mouth, which divided her head,
as it were, into an upper and under storey, clearly showing that she had
the means of taking a huge bite out of our legs, could she get at them.
Her tusks, like those of a boar, projected from under her nostrils, and
the ring and hook in her nose was a formidable weapon of offence, though
intended to prevent her from digging up the ground. Her promising
family were not little pigs, but had nearly attained the age when they
would be turned out to shift for themselves, regular hobbledehoys of
swinehood.

After rampaging round the room, sniffing the air, and vainly attempting
to get at us, the sow ran under the table, which she unceremoniously
upset, when, with a peculiar grunt summoning her progeny to the feast,
she and they immediately commenced gobbling up our viands. Seeing this,
I jumped down, intending to drive her away, but scarcely had I reached
the ground when she made so savage a rush at me that I was glad to
regain my former position.

"This is too bad," cried the major; and, slipping off the drawers, he
seized a chair, with the intention of belabouring our assailant, when
just at that moment one of the young pigs, of an inquisitive
disposition, hearing the bubbling water on the fire, attempting to look
into t