Before you crawl in there, stop to think of the annoyance the act may cause not merely to our hunt, but possibly to a wife, otherwise to sisters, friends, or hospital nurses, even, it may be, to an undertaker--though he will not object. Once victorious over canine foes, it will be a remote chance indeed that that boar, unless caught by mishap in some carelessly chosen lair, will ever again show up as a mark for the fore-sight of a rifle. After one such rout, we remember finding our friend the Reverend Father, who had sallied forth with us for a mild morning's shooting, perched high up among the branches of a thorny _sabina_ (a kind of juniper), whence we rescued him, cut and bleeding, and badly "shaken in nerve!" We add the following typical instances of boar-shooting:-- SALAVAR, _February 1, 1900_.--A lovely winter's morn, warm sun and dead calm. The distant cries of the beaters (nigh three miles away) had just reached my ears, when a nearer sound riveted attention--the soft patter of hoofs upon sand. Then from the forest-slope behind appeared a pig--big and grey--trotting through deep rushes some forty yards away. Already the fore-sight was "touching on" its neck, when a lucky suspicion of striped piglings following their mother arrested the ball. Next came along a gentle hind with all her infinite grace of contour and carriage. At twenty-five yards she faced full round, and for long seconds we stared eye to eye. Curious it is that absolute quiescence will puzzle the wildest of the wild! Hardly had she vanished 'midst forest shades, than once again that muffled patter--this time an unmistakable tusker. But, oh! what an abominable shot I made--too low, too far back--and onwards he pursued his course. By our forest laws it was my _deber_ (bounden duty) to follow the stricken game. All that noontide, all the afternoon--through bush and brake, by dell and dusky defile--patiently, persistently, did Juanillo Espinal and I follow every twist and turn of that unending spoor. There was blood to help us at first, none thereafter. Through the thickets of Sabinal, then back on the left by Maë-Corra, forward through the Carrizal, thence crossing the Corral Grande, and away into the great _pinales_ beyond--away to the Rincon de los Carrizos, three solid leagues and a bit to spare! That was the price of a bungled shot.