But his friends fell upon,
fought for, and ultimately devoured the body; and, as it seemed to me, sang
their hymns of thanksgiving afterward with renewed energy.
The light-heartedness which accompanies fever acts differently on different
men. My irritation gave way, after a short time, to a fixed determination to
slaughter one huge black and white beast who had been foremost in song and
first in flight throughout the evening. Thanks to a shaking hand and a giddy
head I had already missed him twice with both barrels of my shot-gun, when it
struck me that my best plan would be to ride him down in the open and finish
him off with a hog-spear. This, of course, was merely the semi-delirious
notion of a fever patient; but I remember that it struck me at the time as
being eminently practical and feasible.
I therefore ordered my groom to saddle Pornic and bring him round quietly to
the rear of my tent. When the pony was ready, I stood at his head prepared to
mount and dash out as soon as the dog should again lift up his voice. Pornic,
by the way, had not been out of his pickets for a couple of days; the night
air was crisp and chilly; and I was armed with a specially long and sharp pair
of persuaders with which I had been rousing a sluggish cob that afternoon.
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