WAS IT A JOKE?
At that instant, Nick Ribsam felt himself suddenly lifted in air and
spinning forward with great speed on the back of the vigorous hog, which
plunged between his rather short legs.
The astounded lad instantly stopped laughing, and, dropping his gun and
torch, grasped at something to sustain himself against the peril, the
nature of which he could hardly guess.
The hog had struck him from the front, so that Nick was seated in
reverse position on his back. The object which he grasped was the spiral
tail of the animal, but, before he could make his grip certain, the
porker swerved so suddenly to one side that Nick rolled off and bumped
against a tree.
His body was not hurt to one half the extent that his feelings were, for
he heard Sam Harper roaring with mirth, loud enough to be heard half a
mile; and as Nick hastily clambered upon his feet, he was certain
Herbert's cracked laugh was also rending the night air.
The porker, having made the round and paid his tribute to each member of
the company in turn, whisked off into the woods, with a triumphant
grunt, as if to say, "I guess you folks and your dog will let me alone
now."
As soon as the boys found their guns, and restored two of the torches to
a blaze, they looked at each other and gave way to their unrestrained
mirth for several minutes before they could speak so as to be
understood.
Never had a pompous expedition ended more ignobly: they had started out
to attack a fierce black bear, and unexpectedly were overturned by a
large-sized pig, which resented the interference with his slumber.
Some naturalists maintain that many animals possess a sense of the
humorous, and it looked as though the sluggish Bowser enjoyed the joke
as much as did the victims; for, when the latter made their way back to
the camp fire, they saw the hound stretched out close to the warm blaze
with his head between his paws and apparently asleep; but, watching him
closely, he was seen to open one of his eyes, just a little ways, and,
surveying them a minute, he closed it to open again a minute later.
No animal could have said more plainly:
"I've got the joke on you this time, boys, and I'm laughing so hard that
I can't keep my eyes open."
"I tell you there is a good deal more in the heads of brutes than many
of us think," said Nick Ribsam, after he had studied the actions of the
hound; "I believe he wanted to make us believe there was some sort of
game out there so as to play the fool with us."
"Do you think he foresaw the trick of the hog?" asked Herbert, who was
rubbing his bruised elbows and knees.
"That would have been impossible, for we could not have foreseen it
ourselves if we had arranged the joke; he simply meant to mislead us,
and then we acted the fool for _his_ amusement."
It looked very much as if Nick Ribsam was correct in his supposition,
and that Bowser enjoyed even more than they the shrewd trick he had
played on them.
"I suppose there are several hundred hogs wandering through the woods,"
said Nick, "picking up acorns and nuts that have fallen off the trees,
and making a good living at it."
"Yes, lots of them have been running wild for weeks and months," added
Sam, "and when their owners try to gather them in, there will be
trouble, for it doesn't take hogs long to become savage."
"It didn't take that hog very long, I'm sure," observed Herbert, sitting
down with care upon the ground.
"But how was it there was but _one_?" asked Sam.
"There wasn't need of any more than one," said Nick; "he had no trouble
in doing as he pleased with us."
"But hogs go in droves, and you wouldn't be apt to find one of them by
himself in the woods."
"There were others close by, for I am sure I heard them; but it is a
little curious that they didn't attack us, for hogs don't know as much
as dogs, and they had no reason to feel that one of their number was
more than enough for us."
"I don't see the use in talking about it," remarked Herbert, who gently
tipped his body to the other side, so as to rest differently on the
ground; "I am sure I never was so upset in all my life."
"Nor were we," added Nick; "hogs are queer creatures; if a drove finds
it is going to be attacked by an enemy, the boars will place themselves
on the outside, with the sows and younger ones within, so as to offer
the best resistance to the bear or whatever it is, and they will fight
with great fury. In a wild state, they can run fast, and when the tusks
of the boars get to be six or eight inches long, as they do in time,
they are afraid of no animal in the woods."
"How is that?" asked Herbert, again shifting his position with great
care, but feeling interested in what the lad was telling.
"I suppose because they haven't any reason to be afraid. With those
frightful tusks curving upward from the lower jaw, and with a strength
like Sampson in their necks, they can rip up a bear, a tiger, or any
animal that dare attack them."
"I s'pose they're very strong, Nick?" continued Herbert.
"So strong, indeed, that one of the wild boars in Germany has run under
the horse of a hunter, and, lifting both clear from the ground, trotted
fifty yards with them, before the struggling animal could get himself
loose."
Herbert looked fixedly at the narrator for a moment, then solemnly
reached out his hand to Sam, for him to shake over the last astounding
statement, which was altogether too much for him to credit.
Sam Harper grasped the hand and wabbled it once or twice, but said:
"It's as true as gospel, Herbert; I don't know anything about it myself,
but when Nick Ribsam tells you anything for truth, you can make up your
mind it is the truth and nothing else."
The friends lay for a long time by the camp fire, talking over the
events of the day, while Nick Ribsam gave them many wonderful facts
concerning the various wild animals found in different parts of the
world. The lad read everything he could obtain relating to natural
history, and his strong memory retained nearly all the facts.
But, as the night wore on, all three began to feel drowsy, and they made
ready to sleep.
The arrangements for doing this were not so perfect as they could wish.
Not one of them had anything like a blanket, and, though it was the time
of the balmy Indian summer, the nights were quite cold.
There was an abundance of wood around them, and they gathered all they
could possibly need. Then they heaped up a big lot of leaves and lay
down as close to each other as possible.
This was the best that could be done; but it gave a great advantage to
the one who lay in the middle, as the warmth of the others kept him
comfortable, while they were forced to turn one side to the cold air.
By changing about, however, they got along quite well until past
midnight, when the pile of leaves caught fire and caused them to leap to
their feet with so much vigor that the outside ones got sufficiently
warm to last till daylight.
The friends were glad enough when it began growing red in the east. They
rose early, washed their hands and faces in the clear brook, which
flowed near at hand, using their handkerchiefs for towels. Then a rabbit
and couple of squirrels were shot, and, with the same wolf-like
appetites, they made a nourishing and substantial meal.
The brook, from which they took a draught of clear, strengthening water,
lay a short distance to the south of their camp, that is, between it and
Shark Pond, which they passed the day before.
The three were standing by this stream, considering the best thing to be
done to get on the track of the bear, when Sam Harper suddenly stopped
talking and looked fixedly at a point a few yards away. Then he walked
slowly to it, without removing his gaze, stooped down, and attentively
scrutinized the ground.
Without speaking, he turned and beckoned to the others to approach.