"I once had a fight of three or four hours with a crocodile that had entered a narrow lagoon connecting with the lake, and seized a horseman who was crossing. We made a strong net of ropes, and stretched it across the entrance of the lagoon to prevent his escape into the lake; then we lashed two canoes side by side, and with long poles stirred the bottom till he rose to the surface. As he opened his mouth to attack us, we sent a couple of explosive balls down his throat with as many Remington rifles, and another was lodged in his skin under the foreleg, when he turned about to dive. He went down and tried to break through the net, but it was too strong for him, and then it took an hour or more to urge him to show himself again. We fired nearly a dozen balls into him, and at last he caught his head in the net when he was about expiring; we drew him to the shore, and found, on taking his measurement, that he was twenty-seven feet long, and had a girth of eleven feet around the body just behind the fore-legs. "So much for the crocodile, but we are not going to hunt him to-day; we are in pursuit of game that lives on land, and is not amphibious. If fortune favors us we will capture a wild boar, and perhaps we may find something else before the day is over." Then it became clear to the boys what was meant by the boats in advance. They contained the dogs, guns, ammunition, provisions, and other things for the day's sport, together with a dozen or more men to act as beaters, and stir up the game. The Doctor told them they were bound for a point half a dozen miles up the shore, where horses had been sent around by land to meet them. In due time the hunting-party was at the appointed place, and the beaters set out for their share of the work, followed by the hunters. It was expected that a wild boar would be stirred up not more than a mile or two away, as this kind of game was plentiful, and had not been much hunted of late. In fact, one was stirred up, but in a manner quite different from what had been looked for. While the party was on its way through the forest to the point where the hunt was to begin, the screams of a wild boar were heard, as though the animal was in great agony. Mr. Segovia was the first to hear the sound, and immediately he dashed off, and was followed by the rest. The sound appeared to come from a tall tree that could be seen rising above the rest; the brushwood near it was so dense that the horses could not get through, and so our friends dismounted and proceeded on foot. The sight that met their eyes was an astonishment to the boys! [Illustration: A WILD BOAR ATTACKED BY A BOA-CONSTRICTOR.]