Gus and Early Ann came running. Sarah managed to use the pitch fork effectively from the top of the fence. But Stud motioned them all away. This was now his fight and he wanted to handle it alone.
To their cries that he come away Stud turned a deaf ear. Years of pent up fury went into the struggle. The boar was blind with rage yet respectful of the giant with his heavy stick. The man was filled with righteous anger against this stubborn beast and ready for a showdown. They fought and maneuvered, charged and leapt aside, the man shouting incoherently, the big animal squealing and tearing up the earth.
"I'll fix the bastard," Stud cried. His shirt was ripped. His muscles knotted and gleaming.
Again and again the boar charged and went crashing into the fence as Stud scrambled to safety. And time after time Stud brought the two-by-four crashing down between the maddened animal's eyes.
At last they were both too tired to fight. The boar lay squealing and panting in impotent rage across the pen, while Stud, proud that he could walk from the arena, smiled as he climbed the fence.
"Well, there's one blue ribbon gone to holy blazes," said Gus. "But by golly it was worth it."
2
The fight with the boar had two immediate consequences: Sarah suffered a nervous collapse, and Ulysses S. Grant, although carefully tended, proved conclusively that he would not be prize-winning material for the fall of 1913.
It was the veterinarian who was called first and later the family doctor.
"Now don't you worry about me," Sarah said. "I'm all right. You just take care of Ulysses and go on getting ready for the fair. I don't need to go this year."