Wichita eagle., 1889-05-25
s.prrArA AeRIcAn CACTUS OF MEXICO

<ASAAASNA ~
Indian was coming In. He based his as
surance of jdbdH on the rain that had
been falling, which brought the wild hogs
out, made it easy to trail them, and brought
them to bay sooner than if there had been
none There was no horse for the young
ster, so Senior Camou took him on behind,
and we started out in the pelting rain after
''the poo- little pigs" as one of the senoras
of the ranch put it. AS the poor little pigs
have been known to keep man up a tree
for three days, we felt more Like wasting
Winchester ammunition on them than we
did in wasting sympathy.
The rain now came down in torrents,
vivid sheets of lightning played in our very
faces while the rumbling of the thunder
was often so loud that we could not hear
the shoutings to each other. 1t was not
worth while to wait for thunder-clap to
die out, for before its feverberations were
lost another was on top of us, apparently
louder than ever. Now, we were anxious
20 get peccary, indeed. For while little
rain helps the hunter in his chase after
wild hogs, such deluge was entirely
against him. The dry gullies were running
waters that would swim peccary, and this
was in their favor in escaping from the
dogs. / should have said that we had two
dogs with US, one a noble-looking fellow for
q hunt, like Cuban bloodhound, that kept
sweeping the air with his nose as If il were
fail, while the other was most detected
looking whelp, that seemed to be cross be-
tween a mongrel and cur. 1t was the
sloppiest, wettest failure, and about noon
we got back to the rdncie,fG looking like
drowned rats A good Mexican dinner Of
chile, red pepper, tabasco and few other
tasteless condiments was never better ap-
preciated, and as the mild-mannered Yaqui
Indian had put in an appearance we crawled
back into our wet saddles with our wet
clothing sticking to US like postage stamp.
and once more sailed out into the wet. 1t
had ''let up" little while we were eating
dinner, and our otherwise danpened hopes
had gone up little as a consequence, but
when we had gotten away about mile it
seemed as if the very hood-gates OF Heaven
had opened and let ali the water down the
back of our necks. Gulies that we had
crossed in coming out amidst a choking
dust now ran noisy muddy waters up to the
horses bellies and in few places part the
way UP their Sides
Thus we kept along for an hour, wet to
the skin and even under the skin, choy1
cactus burs sticking to US until we looked
like sheep, resemblance that was not dis
sipated by looking at our faces under our
dropping SLOUGH hats. About two o'clock
as near as can remember, we heard shouts
ahead and away we tore through the cactus
vines spires and shrubby thorns, for it was
a sign that there were peccaries ahead.
There were, and we chased them for eight
miles Of $3.50 verified standard feet eacn.
The ground was slippery and the unsnod
ponies went sliding around over it like cats
on ice with clam-shells tied on their feet. /
weighed 265 pounds and my pony not much
over twice or three times as much, and how
he kept up with the others swinging
through choydlds and around thick mes
quite brush is yet mystery. 1t was
exciting and wet Occasionally horse
would get bunch Of cactus in his fetlock-
joint, and then he would turn up his heels
to let the lightning pick 1t out regardless of
his riders. l dismounted once or twice on
that account Once or twice the peccaries
were sighted as two faint gray streaks just
outlined against the dark green brush into
which they disappeared at once. Several
times the trail looked as if we ought to
oyertake them in minute or two, but that
minute never came. Our Yaqui guide was
valiantly to the front making leaps over the
cactus that would have shamed kangaroo,
and keeping well ahead OF the horses.
Suddenly he stopped and gave up the chase
on the near side Of broad river, the result
of the rain.
His face was melancholy in the extreme,
It was known that he would not give up the
game without the best of causes, as be was
to get months wages $500 if a 5dbdli
was killed he explained in Spanish that
the party had been following the wild hogs,
with an absolute certainty Of catching them,
as he thought, so tired were they becoming,
when, to his dismay the tracks of three
other fresh peccaries were TO be seen COM
ing In at this point on the broad stream.
Whenever fresh jabiits JOIN those worn out
enough to come to bay, the latter change
their minds as toighting and will run as long
rs their fresh companions will hold out. We
thus had another eight TO twelve miles
chase through the slippery mud, and this
the horses and mules would not stand SO ex-
hausted were they already. We had seen
the beasts, nevertheless, and learned one Of
their salient peculiarities in losing them
and this was sufficient compensation for
our first. but never-to-be-forgotten hunt for
wild pigs. FREDERICK ScHwATKA.