n, that
every one will be much obliged to us for killing him. If he chances to
get into a vineyard, in company with a set of his reckless fellows,
there is small chance for a vintage that year. He tears down the
vines, devours the grapes, green and ripe, and breaks and ruins
trellises and everything within his reach.

If we are so fortunate as to get sight of him, we will find that he is
no easy game to bag. Very different is he from his tame brethren with
which we are acquainted--old grunters, who wallow about the
mud-puddles and sleep serenely for hours, with their fat sides baking
in the sun. The wild boar is as fast as a horse, and as savage as the
crossest bull. He can run so that you can scarcely catch up to him
with your nag at the top of his speed, and when you do reach him he
will be very apt, if you are not watchful, to rip up your horse with
his tusks and cut some terrible gashes in your own legs, besides.

[Illustration: WILD BOAR.]

We must shoot this fellow as soon as we can get a good chance, for
those sharp tusks will be ready for us, if we come too close, and if
he increases the distance between us, he may get among the rocks and
hills, where he will surely escape, for our horses cannot go over
those rough ascents at the rate the boar would gallop.

When at last he is shot, the boar is capital eating. His flesh is far
superior to common pork, possessing the peculiar delicate flavor which
belongs to most wild meat. If we could shoot a wild boar every few
days, we would be sure to fare very well during our hunting
expedition.

But we must press on after other game, and we will now try and get a
shot at a musk-ox. We shall have to go somewhat out of our way to find
this animal, for he lives in the upper portions of North America, but
an ocean and a continent or two are not at all difficult to cross--in
a book.

The musk-ox is about as large as a small cow; he has very short legs,
and horns which are very large and heavy. They extend over his
forehead and seem as if they were parted in the middle, like a dandy's
front hair. It is probable, if we get near enough to one of them, that
we shall have no trouble in shooting him; but there is sometimes
danger in this sport. A sailor once went out to hunt musk-oxen, and,
to his great surprise, soon found that they intended to hunt him. A
herd got after him, and one big fellow was on the point of crushing
him with his great horns, when he dodged behind a roc