Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-03-10


was out of sight and hearing. After
plodding along for a while we were
startled by the report Of a gun, fol-
lowed shortly by another shot, far
ahead of us.
I'VE had gone perhaps half mile
when we began to hear the smother
ed pop of a revolver, fired at intervals
of q few seconds. About the same
time we became aware Of a distant
murmuring, or roaring, not unlike an
approaching storm; moment later
this was punctuated with shrill
! squeals and yelps.
THE captain halted us, saying,
There is trouble ahead, and we shall
be in it too if we are not. careful
Morris has fallen in with a big drove
of peccaries." Then he gave us his
plan for rescue.
I'VE were silently to approach as
close to the rear of the drove as pos
sible without attracting their notice.
If Morris was not safely out Of their
reach we must rush in and take our
chances with him.
IF he was, we were to scatter a
few yards apart. When as near as
we could get, unnoticed. each was to
find a tree he could quickly get into,
If we failed to stampede them and
were attacked. Then at the captains
signal all were to begin to shoot,
shout and make all the noise we could
as we dashed forward. If the rear
ones took fright and ran, we could
trust them to stampede the lot, for
panic is contagious with peccaries as
with sheep.
when we came in sight Morris
was seated astride a limb Of low
branched tree so near the ground
that he had to keep his feet drawn up
to get them out of reach Of the leap
ing and snarling little fiends beneath,
and we could see the blood trickling.
from one torn shoe Half dozen or
more victims of his small revolver
lay piled below him and were utilized
by their comrades for footing to get
a little nearer their victim.
For the space OF at least one-fourth
Of an acre the ground below him
was covered with a sea of jumping,
squalling, bristling, white-lipped pee
carries, with only one object in life,
and it was only a question Of time
when they would attain it. Fortu-
nately for all concerned the captains
strategy succeeded.
"As we burst from our cover, max
ing a noise by every means at our
command, the nearer animals, who
had not yet seen us, took fright and
rushed in on the Others adding their
danger cries to our unearthly hubbub.
There was an instant's hush, then
the entire herd, and there must have
been more than a thousand, tore of
through the woods and were soon
out Of our hearing.
when we came up to Morris he
almost fell into our arms, faint from
fright and loss Of blood. AS he had
been riding carelessly along strag-
gler from the drove had jumped out
from almost under his horses feet
and with a sharp 'woof-woof' dashed
away.
1.-The horse had sprung sidewise
and thrown him and galloped off.
Morris was not hurt by the fall, but
when he rose to his feet he saw pee
carries peering at him on every side
and drawing curiously nearer. He
was very angry, and picking up his
gun had shot the nearest two.
Instead Of scampering away in
terror, as he had expected, they bris-
tied their backs and charged him. He
scrambled into the nearest tree and
thought he was safe, but one had
sprung into the air and with a f1irt OF
the head ripped open his shoe and
ploughed a deep cash in his foot,
severing vein.
"By curling his feet up he kept
out Of further danger, but he was
rapidly growing weak from bleeding
and he would soon have fallen had
we not come to his rescue. We
stanched the blood and got him home,
where he soon recovered"