But before the man returned a boar was started up and Colonel Myles started off in pursuit. The boar dashed into the underbrush, the Colonel and a dozen natives after him full tilt, and the farther that boar ran the madder he got.
He didn’t like being chased, and I suppose no sensible boar would like it.
Directly he made a sharp turn and rushed out of the bushes to the river bank where the Major was sitting on his horse waiting for his spear.
Seeing a man on a horse the boar very naturally thought that he must be the person who had been after him, and so, full of vengeance, he dashed at him at full speed, his horrid tusks glistening in the sunlight.
Instantly the Major pulled his feet out of the stirrups and drew his sword. There was no time to ride away.
But the sword was short, and the boar was very close to the horse, who snorted and plunged so that the Major could scarcely keep his seat, much less get a fair crack at the boar.
THE MAJOR AND THE BOAR.
If the savage beast had succeeded in getting under the horse he would have wounded him desperately.
But Major Alden was a cool and a brave man. He kept the horse away from the boar as well as he could, and at last he got a good chance, and down came his sword on the boar’s neck.