There he waited until the boar came, and had the satisfaction of seeing it make a good meal. In time it showed signs of drowsiness, and commenced moving from the place. Pollard, feeling that the time had come for action, made an onslaught on the boar. After so hearty a meal, it was not in a fighting humour, but nevertheless made a fierce resistance, and taxed to the utmost the prowess of the knight. The encounter lasted the greater part of the night, and the welcome rays of the sun burst forth as he severed the head from the trunk of the boar. Having cut out its tongue and placed it in his wallet, he decided to rest for a short time under a tree; but a deep sleep overcame him, and led to a serious disappointment, for when he awoke he discovered that the head had been taken away. He was in great despair, for he had not the trophy to take to the King to obtain the promised prize; so, mounting his horse, he rode to the Bishop and told his tale, and, showing the tongue, his lordship, who was about to dine, rejoiced to hear the good news, and, as a reward, promised the knight as much land as he could ride round during the hour of dinner. When he next came before the prelate, he startled the latter by intimating that he had ridden round his castle, and claimed it and all it contained as his meed. The Bishop was loath to part with his stronghold, but was bound to admit the validity of the claim, and eventually made a compromise by granting him an extensive freehold estate known to this day as Pollard’s Land. These broad acres were given with the condition attached that the possessor should meet every Bishop of Durham on his first coming to Auckland, and present to him a falchion with this speech: "My lord, I, in behalf of myself as well as several others, possessors of the Pollard’s lands, do humbly present your lordship with this falchion, at your first coming here, wherewith, as the tradition goeth, he slew of old a mighty boar, which did much harm to man and beast; and by performing this service we hold our lands." Hutchinson, rather curiously, quotes a letter signed "R. Bowser," commencing: "Sir, inclosed you have the speech my brother Pewterer gave me out of Lord Bishop Cosin’s old Book," in which the boar is described as "a venomous serpent." Dr. Longley, created Bishop of Durham in the year 1856, was the last Bishop to whom the falchion was presented. The crest of the Pollard family is an arm holding a falchion. As to the missing head, it is related that while Pollard slept the head of the Northumbrian family of Mitford passed, saw what had occurred, seized the head, and rode with all speed to the King, and gained the reward. The champion Pollard also sought an interview with His Majesty, and giving the facts, showed that the head presented had not a tongue; he was, however, dismissed without any recompense, the King declining to entertain a second claim.