robably have passed before every nook and corner of a run
extending over many thousand acres could have been thoroughly searched.

I had heard terrible stories of shepherds slipping down and injuring
themselves so that they could not move, and of their dead bodies being
only found after weeks of careful seeking. F---- himself delighted to
terrify me by descriptions of narrow escapes; and, as the pigs had to
be killed, I resolved to follow in the hunter's train. The sport is
conducted exactly like deer stalking, only it is much harder work, and a
huge boar is not so picturesque an object as a stag of many tines, when
you do catch sight of him. There is just the same accurate knowledge
needed of the animal's habits and customs, and the same untiring
patience. It is quite as necessary to be a good shot, for a grey pig
standing under the lee of a boulder of exactly his own colour is a much
more difficult object to hit from the opposite side of a ravine than a
stag; and a wild boar is every whit as keen of scent and sharp of eye
and ear as any antlered "Monarch of the Glen."

Imagine then a beautiful winter's morning without wind or rain. There
has been perhaps a sharp frost over-night, but after a couple of hours
of sunshine the air is as warm and bright as midsummer. We used to be
glad enough of a wood fire at breakfast; but after that meal had been
eaten we went into the verandah, open to the north-east (our warm
quarter), which made a delicious winter parlour, and basked in the
blazing sunshine. I used often to bring out a chair and a table, and
work and read there all the morning, without either hat or jacket. But
it sometimes happened that once or twice a week, on just such a lovely
morning, F---- would proclaim his intention of going out to look for
pigs, and, sooner than be left behind, I nearly always begged to be
allowed to come too. There was no fear of my getting tired or lagging
behind; and as I was willing to make myself generally useful, by
carrying the telescope, a revolver for close quarters, and eke a few
sandwiches, the offer of my company used to be graciously accepted. We
could seldom procure the loan of a good pig-dog, and after one excursion
with a certain dog of the name of "Pincher," I preferred going out by
ourselves.

On that occasion F---- did not take his rifle, as there was no
chance of getting a long shot at our game; for the dog would surely
bring the pig to bay, and then the hunter must tr