In Times of Peril: A Tale of IndiaHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
In Times of Peril: A Tale of India
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858 -- Juvenile fiction
He was nearly up to him when Captain Dunlop, who saw the boar glancing
back savagely, cried:
"Look out, Skinner! he will be round in a moment; keep your horse well
in hand!"
A moment later the boar was round. The horse, young and unbroken at the
work, started violently, swerved, and, before his rider could get him
round, the boar was upon him. In an instant the horse was upon the
ground, with a long gash upon his flank, and Skinner, flying through
the air, fell almost directly in the boar's way.
Fortunately for the young ensign, Captain Dunlop, as he shouted his
warning, had turned his horse to the left, so as to cut off the boar
when he turned, and he was now so close that the boar, in passing, had
only time to give a vicious blow at the fallen man, which laid his arm
open from his shoulder to his elbow.
At that instant Captain Dunlop arrived, and his spear pierced the
animal's flank. His aim was, however, disconcerted by his horse, at the
moment he struck, leaping over the fallen ensign; the wound, therefore,
was but a glancing one, and in a moment the boar was round upon his new
assailant. Fortunately the horse was a well-trained one, and needed not
the sharp touch of his master's rein to wheel sharp round on his hind
legs, and dart off at full speed. The boar swerved off again, and
continued his original line of flight, his object being to gain a thick
patch of jungle, now little over a quarter of a mile distant; the
detention, however, was fatal to him, for the doctor, who was close on
Captain Dunlop's heels, now brought up his horse with a rush and, with
a well-aimed thrust, ran the animal through, completely pinning him to
the earth. The honor of his death was therefore divided between the
doctor and Captain Dunlop, for the latter had drawn first blood, or, as
it is termed, had taken first spear, while the former had scored the
kill.
The sow had been more fortunate than her lord. She had taken a line
across a part of the plain which was intersected by several nullahs.
She, too, had been wounded, but one of the nullahs had thrown out
several of her pursuers: one rider had been sent over his horse's head
and stunned; and the sow, turning sharp down a deep and precipitous
gully, had made her escape. Three of the squeakers fell to the spears
of the Griffs--young hands--and the rest had escaped. The boar had been
killed only a short distance from the rise upon which the spectators
from Sandynugghur were assembled, and the beaters soon tied its four
legs together, and, putting a pole through them, six of them carried
the beast up to the colonel's wife for inspection.
"What a savage-looking brute it is!" said Kate; "not a bit like a pig,
with all those long bristles, and that sharp high back, and those
tremendous tusks."
"Will you accept the skin, Miss Warrener?" Captain Dunlop said to her
afterward; "I have arranged with the doctor. He is to have the hams,
and I am to have the hide. If you will, I will have it dressed and
mounted."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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