The Black range. (Robinson, Socorro County, N.M.) 1882-1897, 1884-08-22
NO. 20.

In the pit. Rlances Of regret and name
less fear. lie shudders out his life be-
meath his growing conqueror. and his
tiny heart. perhaps. swells with woe
At It's last throl& At least he looks
that way 10 me. The dying pachyderm
OF the Texas forest dies in n matter
Of course" manner as IL he meant to
end that way and was glad Of II. lie
looks mp In the tree where the man sits
who shot him flew men Of experience
ever shot them from any other stand
point and anon he holds up his cloven
hoof and glances at H. II the peccary
regrets anything In the hour OF dis
solution II is that he was not made like
a squirrel-to climb.
Roaming a glade. looking for mast.
a drove Of pecarries resembles a drove
Of tame hogs. They never begin a war.
but when one Is assalled the entire
drove rush 10 the attack as men rush
when martial valor urges them. Each
bead-lIke eve is fire spark; tasks are
protruded. the echinated spine straight
ened. and woe 10 the wretch that falls
In their path. Gored. bitten. torn tram
pied upon. and eaten up. TO the last
shred Of his elothing-such Is the fate
OF the man caught by drove Of angry
peccaries. With the same fury they
assall wolf or attack a bull. and
neither the wolf OF the bull can stand
up against charge Of half dozen pee
carries. Both know this. and fly in ter
ror from the field.
Lately, on the Wichita river. ] at
tackled drove Of peccaries. was safely
pearched in tree. armed with Win
chester rifle, and accompanied by Ser
geant Plat. OF the Frontier Battalion,
who occupied bough beneath me.
We waited until the drove approach
ed within thirty yards Of our tree. and
then we fired simultaneously. killing
one and wounding another. The roar
of our carblnes brought them upon JUS
with that strange alacrity that suggest
ed their having awaited from sucklings
for just such an occasion and kept.
perfectly ready for it. When they ar.
rived at the tree they each bit IL in
turn, and then glancing up. squatted
and fixed upon us dozen pair Of eyes
small as peas and blazing with fierce.
purpose and fury intense.
One by one we shot them, and they
fell. one by one, and died. each willing
and ready TO go, and accepting his fate
as pleasantly as schoolboys accept ap-.
pies. Not groan or squeal betrayed
pain or dismay. Squatting on their hams
they gazed at US. and took their bull,
lets as IL we were tossing them acorns..
Presently only one was left alive amid
a dozen corpses. and there he sat, brown
bristling. furious. foaming with raging
life, courting death: unmindful Of the
blood that damped the grass around
him; Indifferent of the fate of cons
rades--a very epitome of hate.
'Don't shoot vet" said to Sergeant.
Platt, Il want to study him."
Grim. voiceless, horrible--the hog sat
and gave me back glance for glance.
The spot he squatted upon was within
the radius OF red ant bed. The In
sects crawled over him and stung his.
thick hide; they wasted their formio
acid, blunted their Iancets In vain. Aa
well might they have stung the cactus
plant growing beside their bed. After
time the old boar grew weary OF the
task Of gazing got up and went around
smelling the bodies of his late com
panions. Then he ate few acorns
that had fallen from the live oak tree
we were perched in. and after that he
deliberately stretched himself ut the
foot of .he tree intending to remain o
sentry and prevent our slipping away
without his permission; or without
doing by him as We had done by the
others.
We did not keep him waiting much
longer. Platt aimed at his heart and
pierced 1t with forty-four caliber
bullet; with single glance upward
from sinister eye, the hog died gently,
and with his life ended his one emo,
tion-hate.
The Texas & Pacific and Fort Worth
& Denver City locomotive engineers
often encounter droves of peccaries.
MS ! suppose. do all engineers who oper-
ate on the western Texas railroads,
No whistle is sounded TO frighten them,
The engineers know that peccarlea
cannot be frightened. The engine
rushes into tile midst of the drove and
those not killed outright die madly,
charging and biting ut the wheels that
crush them.
A peccary is in all respects o hog,
He looks. smells and tastes like "a hog
and Is hog. but for thing OF indo-
mitable courage Of the lower type, for
hater, of quenohless fury, and for u
fighter TO the last throb Of bis heart.
commend the to the fierce Diootyles
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