Jack stooped lower and examined the trail.
'No,' he said. 'There certainly is no appearance of such marks. Who made the track, Readyman?'
'That's exactly what I want you to find out for yourself. Suppose you had been cast ashore without shipmates, and had to discover everything for future guidance? Use your eyes, lad.'
Here and there Jack discovered that, on looking still closer at the trail, it seemed to be recently disturbed. Many little pieces of compressed and decaying leaves looked as if they had been just cut asunder, and the disturbed earth seemed freshly trodden. Then he perceived among the leaves what looked like a long coarse hair. A few yards farther along the track he reached a circular clearance of the short scrub, while numerous marks showed the recent presence of many four-footed and cloven-hoofed animals.
'Did you ever see anything like them before?' the quarter-master inquired.
'Cows' feet,' Jack said; 'but these are much smaller.'
A swift gleam of intelligence was followed by a hearty laugh.
'I know, I know!' Jack cried. 'This hair is a bristle, and the marks have been made by wild pigs.
'Exactly, lad; and if I'm not much mistaken they've had a big fight amongst themselves hereabouts.'
'Let us try to shoot some of them, Readyman.'
'I'd like to, my son, but don't forget that the boars are always savage, and regular demons to fight. Let me go first.'
In silence, and with great caution against sudden attack by cannibals, both friends continued to follow the track that led them deeper and deeper into the forest. The light still remained fairly good, while the track held an upward course. At last they came suddenly on a great wall of rock rising almost perpendicularly before them. At the same moment Readyman pulled up so abruptly that Jack, walking close behind, stumbled against him.
Without speaking the quarter-master pointed toward a spot at the base of the cliff, and following the direction Jack immediately perceived a large number of small pigs fast asleep in their comfortable quarters, apparently unaware of impending danger.
'Stand behind a tree, and take your choice of a good fat one,' Readyman whispered. 'Mind you don't waste a shot. I'll get under cover also, and see if we can bring home a couple of good porkers. Should you see a boar look wild, mind you get out of his road as quickly as possible. If I'm attacked, I'll shin up one of the trees.'
