Page:Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean, vol. 3 (1826).djvu/314

Wolfgang cried out, ‘a boar! a boar!’ and Hendrick exclaimed, ‘a wolf! a wolf!’ both preparing instantly to attack it. But the brute, which was employed in devouring its prey, after displaying a frightful pair of jaws, and making shew of resistance, turned its tail, and fled through the underwood, hidden from their view, till it reached the mouth of the ravine, when springing suddenly out, it escaped into the more open country. The huntsmen, however, knowing that it must choose to fly through the gorge of the pass, or remain in the dell, had hurried that way, and were close at its heels, when it darted from the thicket. This gave them hopes, and giving full rein to their horses, they pursued it over a wide piece of heathy waste. They had now a good opportunity for ascertaining the nature of the animal they followed; but, notwithstanding their skill in the chase, they were unable to decide what kind of beast it was; for, though it had the straight back, bushy tail, and long gallop, of a wolf, still it had the thick, bristly, and snouted head of a boar, and its feet were not similar to those of any animal they had seen. They, therefore, supposed it might be some mongrel brute, or one of the wild beasts brought from Syria, which had