Sentence:  The boar was evidently most averse to leave the field in which he had spent so may pleasant hours of uninterrupted rest; ... He turned sharply to one flank; he stopped dead, and went away in the opposite direction as he heard the hunters gallop past; every <WSD>ruse</WSD> he tried, but tried in vain. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs.