Philip's first impulse was to take out his
revolver, and shoot; but he was always conscientious, and it occurred
to him that he would be committing a breach of trust, as he had
undertaken to guard the game alive until Gleeson came back with the
cart. So he tried to fight the pig with his boots, kicking him on
the jaws right and left. But the pig proved a stubborn fighter, and
kept coming up to the scratch again and again, until Philip felt he
had got into a serious difficulty. He began to think as well as to
kick quickly.
"If I could only throw the animal to the ground I could hold him down."
The dogs had shown him that the proper mode of seizing a hog was by
the ears, so at the next round he seized both ears and held them.
There was a pause in the fight, and Philip took advantage of it to
address his enemy after the manner of the Greeks and Trojans.
"I have got you at last, my friend, and the curse of Cromwell on you,
I'd like to murder you without mercy; and if Gleeson don't come soon
he'll find here nothing but dead pig. I must try to throw you
somehow." After examining the pig narrowly he continued, "It will be
done by the hind legs."
He let go one ear and seized a hind leg instead, taking the enemy, as
it were, both in front and rear. For some time there was much
kicking and squealing, until one scientific kick and a sudden twist
of the hind quarters brought the quarry to earth.
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