that of all animals the boar does not fear to drink
at the same pool with a tiger; nay, a case is on record
of his having taken his drink with a tiger on each
side of him. In his book on pig-sticking Baden-Powell
quotes an exciting description of a battle between
a tiger and a boar, a battle which will give English
readers a vivid idea of the boar’s pluck and
doggedness. The narrative is as follows:
“When the boar saw the tiger the latter roared.
But the old boar did not seem to mind the roar so
very much as might have been anticipated. He actually
repeated his ‘hoo! hoo!’ only in a, if
possible, more aggressive, insulting, and defiant
manner. Nay, more, such was his temerity that
he actually advanced with a short, sharp rush in the
direction of the striped intruder. Intently peering
through the indistinct light, we eagerly watched the
development of this strange rencontre.
The tiger was now crouching low, crawling stealthily
round and round the boar, who changed front with every
movement of his lithe and sinewy adversary, keeping
his determined head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing
his stealthy and treacherous foe. The bristles
of the boar’s back were up at a right angle
from the strong spine. The wedge-shaped head poised
on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular shoulder
was bent low, and the whole attitude of the body betokened
full alertness and angry resoluteness. In their
circlings the two brutes were now nearer to each other
and nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement
with greater precision. The tiger was now growling
and showing his teeth; and all this, that takes such
a time to tell, was but the work of a few short minutes.
Crouching now still lower, till he seemed almost flat
on the ground, and gathering his sinewy limbs beneath
his lithe, lean body, he suddenly startled the stillness
with a loud roar, and quick as lightning sprang upon
the boar. For a brief minute the struggle was
thrilling in its intense excitement. With one
swift, dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, the
tiger fetched the boar a terrific slap right across
the jaw, which made the strong beast reel; but with
a hoarse grunt of resolute defiance, with two or three
sharp digs of the strong head and neck, and swift,
cutting blows of the cruel, gashing tusks, he seemed
to make a hole or two in the tiger’s coat, marking
it with more stripes than Nature had ever painted
there; and presently both combatants were streaming
with gore. The tremendous buffet of the sharp
claws had torn flesh and skin away from off the boar’s
cheek and forehead, leaving a great ugly flap hanging
over his face and half blinding him. The pig was
now on his mettle. With another hoarse grunt
he made straight for the tiger, who very dexterously
eluded the charge, and, lithe and quick as a cat after
a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted clean
on the boar’s back, inserting his teeth above
the shoulders, tearing with his claws, and biting
out great mouthfuls of flesh from the quivering carcase