ly on, "and shall have
to get close to him to hit him; but if he should come at me, I shall
have my second barrel, besides a plenty of shells."

There was some reassurance in this thought, especially as he had two of
the spare shells in his hand, ready for use in case of need.

At a distance of only six rods from the enraged animal, he stopped and
brought up his gun.

The boar was not still for an instant, but rushing about in its efforts
to get up the rock. He had certainly struck the man, for there was blood
on the rock and on the savage tusks. This probably rendered him all the
more eager.

"I'll try the buckshot first," thought Ralph, "for they'll scatter a
little, and some of them must hit him."

He ranged between the two barrels, and pulled. "Bang!" sounded the
report. "Whoosh!" uttered the boar, stopping short in his efforts
against the rock, and turning his whole attention upon the intruder.
Doubtless he was hit, but perhaps not mortally.

Ralph's gun was again at his face. "Bang!" This time the single ball was
sent, but through the smoke of the discharge he saw that the boar was
rushing upon him.

An interval of six rods, and a wild hog, six feet long, bounding over it
with clashing jaws! How the breech-loader sprang open, and how the two
spare charges went into it! What if Ralph had not held them all ready in
his hand?

"Bang! bang!" The boar's head was not three feet from the muzzle as the
second barrel was fired. The monster's impetus carried him on with a
plunge; and the young hero's legs were knocked from under him by the
weight of the huge body, so that he fell at full length in the mud.

For an instant he believed himself lost, and while scrambling to his
feet he expected to feel the sweep of those sword-like tusks.

But there was no longer any danger; the last discharge had done its work
to perfection, and with his knees bent under him, the boar lay just as
he had plowed into the mire, having not even rolled over.

Picking up his gun, Ralph hurried to assist the person on the rock, whom
he had already seen to be a negro, and whom he now found to be held down
by a large stone, which lay upon his legs, he having doubtless pulled it
from a position above in his frantic efforts to escape from his pursuer.

The confined black could not help himself; but Ralph succeeded, without
much difficulty, in relieving him from the heavy weight.

The stone could not have slipped more than two or three fee