We found several more droves of hogs in the woods, but abstained from
killing any of them, having more than sufficient for our present
necessities. We saw also many of their footprints in this
neighbourhood. Among these we also observed the footprints of a smaller
animal, which we examined with much care, but could form no certain
opinion as to them. Peterkin thought they were those of a little dog,
but Jack and I thought differently. We became very curious on this
matter, the more so that we observed these footprints to lie scattered
about in one locality, as if the animal which had made them was
wandering round about in a very irregular manner, and without any
object in view. Early in the forenoon of our third day we observed
these footprints to be much more numerous than ever, and in one
particular spot they diverged off into the woods in a regular beaten
track, which was, however, so closely beset with bushes that we pushed
through it with difficulty. We had now become so anxious to find out
what animal this was and where it went to, that we determined to follow
the track, and, if possible, clear up the mystery. Peterkin said, in a
bantering tone, that he was sure it would be cleared up, as usual, in
some frightfully simple way, and prove to be no mystery at all!
The beaten track seemed much too large to have been formed by the
animal itself, and we concluded that some larger animal had made it,
and that the smaller one made use of it.
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