strength and cunning. Mounted on his
little fourteen-hand Waler, in pith solar topee, grey Norfolk jacket,
light cords, and brown blucher boots, and grasping in his hand his
deadly seventy-inch spear, he goes forth to slay the wild boar, with
all the feelings of romance and knightliness which some people think
vanished from the world when Excalibur sank in the Lake of Lyonnesse.
It is a battle whereof no man need be ashamed; in which only the
strong man can glory. Many a time has the wild boar hurled his great
head and mountainous shoulders against the forelegs of a horse,
bringing the hunter to the ground for mortal combat on foot. Many a
time has the novice, who went out as gaily and contemptuously as the
fox-hunter, returned to his bungalow cut and gored on a stretcher. He
who goes up against the wild boar must, in Baden-Powell's words, "have
matured not only the 'pluck' which brings a man into a desperate
situation, but that 'nerve' which enables him to carry the crisis to a
successful issue."

When Baden-Powell returned to India from Afghanistan in 1882, he
became an enthusiastic pig-sticker (for reasons which we shall give in
our chapter on Scouting), and during that year he killed no fewer than
thirty-one pigs. In the following year he killed forty-two, and won
the blue-ribbon of hog-hunting--the Kadir Cup. Two years afterwards he
wrote and illustrated the standard book on pig-sticking (published by
Messrs. Harrison and Sons), which is as famous a book in India as Mr.
H.S. Thomas's delightful books on fishing.

Hunting the boar takes place early in the morning and again in the
evening, so that men find themselves with nothing to do for the
greater part of the day. This time is usually spent in the tent
sketching, dozing, and reading, with occasional "goes" of claret cup.
But it is characteristic of Baden-Powell that he should give useful
advice concerning these waste hours. "If you prefer not to waste this
time altogether," he says, "it is a good practice to take a few books
and dictionary of any foreign language you may wish to be learning."
Again, his character as a thoughtful man may be seen in the warning he
gives novices against ill-treating villagers, or allowing the shikaris
to do so. "Shouting and cursing at a coolie already dumbfoundered at
the very sight of a white man is not the way to clear his
understanding." His remark that native servants under cover of their
master's prestige will frequently ty