Of bark from the boughs of a tree.
Withdrawing into a covert, we there waited for the wild hogs; which,
according to Zeke, would soon make their appearance, lured by the
smell of blood. Presently we heard them coming, in two or three
different directions; and, in a moment, they were tearing the offal to
pieces.
As only one shot at these creatures could be relied on, we intended
firing simultaneously; but, somehow or other, the doctor's piece went
off by itself, and one of the hogs dropped. The others then breaking
into the thicket, the rest of us sprang after them; resolved to have
another shot at all hazards.
The Cockney darted among some bushes; and, a few moments after, we
heard the report of his musket, followed by a quick cry. On running
up, we saw our comrade doing battle with a young devil of a boar, as
black as night, whose snout had been partly torn away. Firing when
the game was in full career, and coming directly toward him, Shorty
had been assailed by the enraged brute; it was now crunching the
breech of the musket, with which he had tried to club it; Shorty
holding fast to the barrel, and fingering his waist for a knife.
Being in advance of the others, I clapped my gun to the boar's head,
and so put an end to the contest.
Evening now coming on, we set to work loading our carriers. The cattle
were so small that a stout native could walk off with an entire
quarter; brushing through thickets, and descending rocks without an
apparent effort; though, to tell the truth, no white man present
could have done the thing with any ease. As for the wild hogs, none
of the islanders could be induced to carry Shorty's; some invincible
superstition being connected with its black colour. We were,
therefore, obliged to leave it. The other, a spotted one, being slung
by green thongs to a pole, was marched off with by two young natives.
With our bearers of burdens ahead, we then commenced our return down
the valley. Half-way home, darkness overtook us in the woods; and
torches became necessary. We stopped, and made them of dry palm
branches; and then, sending two lads on in advance for the purpose of
gathering fuel to feed the flambeaux, we continued our journey.
It was a wild sight. The torches, waved aloft, flashed through the
forest; and, where the ground admitted, the islanders went along on a
brisk trot, notwithstanding they bent forward under their loads.
Their naked backs were stained with blood; and occasionally, running
by each other, they raised wild cries which startled the hillsides.
