As I came close to it a
loud savage grunt and the squealing of many little piglets issued from
the mound, and out from it rushed a furious red sow and charged me.
The pony suddenly swerved aside in terror, throwing me completely over
on one side, but luckily I had instinctively gripped the mane with
both hands, and with a violent effort succeeded in getting a leg back
over the horse, and we swiftly left the dangerous enemy behind. Then,
remembering all I had been told about the ferocity of these pigs, it
struck me that I had had an extremely narrow escape, since if I had
been thrown off the savage beast would have had me at her mercy and
would have certainly killed me in a couple of minutes; and as she was
probably mad with hunger and thirst in that lonely hot spot, with a
lot of young to feed, it would not have taken her long to devour me,
bones and boots included.
This set me thinking on the probable effect of my disappearance, of my
mother's terrible anxiety, and what they would think and do about it
They would know from the return of the pony that I had fallen
somewhere: they would have searched for me all over the surrounding
plain, especially in all the wilder, lonelier places where birds
breed; on lands where the cardoon thistle flourished most, and in the
vast beds of bulrushes in the marshes, but would not have found me.
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