Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-01-26
freed by Wild Hogs.


T
In Central America there is spe-
cies of wild pig Of the large wild boar
breed called iayalinO. These crea-
lures are savage, gregarious in their
habits, and if one OF their number is
injured by hunter they gather and
proceed to take summary vengeance.
They fear neither man nor beast
George Byam thus recounts an eXpe-
rience he once had with the iavalino.
He was one day hunting alone, on
foot, with a doubl-barreled smooth
bore. one barrel loaded with ball. the
other with No 2 shot, in arather open
wood, when a large boar made his APP
pearance about sixty yards of, and,
not seeing any of his comrades, Byam
let lly the ball barrel at him and tum-
bled him over.
The old fellow gave q fierce grunt
or two as he lay, and a large herd Of
these boars and sows Immediately
rushed out of some thicker underwood
behind him, and, after looking few
seconds ut tine fallen beast, made a
dash at me.
.But they were trife too late, for,
on first catching sight of them, ran
to a tree, cut up it for life, and had
only Just scrambled into some diverg-
ing branches about ten feet from the
ground when the whole herd arrived,
grunting and squealing at the foot Of
the tree.
lit was the first time | had ever
been freed, and | could not help laugh
ing at the ridiculous figure must have
cut, chased up a tree by drove of
pigs; but it soon turned out no laugh
ing matter, for their patience was not,
as | expected, soon exhausted.
mo, they settled down about the
tree, about twenty yards distant, and
kept looking up at me with their little
twinkling eyes, as much as TO say:
We'll have you yet.
Having made up my mind that a
regular siege was intended | began, as
an old soldier, to examine the state
and resources of the fortress, and
also the chances of relief from with
out.
"The defenses consisted of four di-
verging branches, that afforded Il safe
asylum to the garrison, provided it
was watchful aud did not 20 to sleep,
unfortunately | had only q few
charges of shot and two balls. As to
relief from without, it was hardly to
be expected, although a broad trail
ran about half mile from my perch,
aud as for a sally, it was out of the
question So made myself as com
Portable as | could and sat Watching
the brutcs, wondering when they
would get tired of watching me.
But hour after hour elapsed, and
as there seemed no chance of the pigs
losing patience, of course / began to
lose mine. They never stirred, except
one or two would now and then 20
and take a look at his dead comrade,
and return grunting, as if he had
freshencd up his thirst for revenge.
''All mt once it occurred to me that
though | could not spare any lead, bus
must keep it for emergencies, yet ut
powder and caps were in abundance,
Il would be n good plan to fire off pow
der alone every few minutes, and follow
each shot with loud shout, which is
a general signal for assistance.
GAS one barrel was still loaded with
shot, l picked out n most vicious old
boar, which was just returning from
a visit to his fallen friend, grunting
and looking up at me in the tree, and
gave him the whole charge, at about
twenty yards of, in the middle of his
face.
This succeeded beyond my cxpec-
tation, for he turned round and gal
Hoped away as hard as he could, max
ing a most horrible grunting; and
though the rest when they heard Che
shot, charged up to the foot Of the tree,
yet the cutlery of the old boar drew
them all from the tree, and away the
whole herd went after him.
Remaining up the tree for several
minutes, until all was quiet, loaded
both barrels very carefully with ball,
and slipping down To the ground, ran
away rs fast as my legs could carry
me. - Youths Companion.