Page:Tales of a Voyager to the Arctic Ocean, vol. 3 (1826).djvu/327

 hills, in search of it; and his rival, notwithstanding his security, not being willing that he should first start the game, set off to another spot, where he once or twice had met the animal.

“About an hour after this, Wolfgang unearthed the boarwolf. It sprung from beneath the root of an old withered yew-tree, which grew over a low dark cave, in the side of a bank, just as the sun rose brilliantly from behind some opposite hills; and when the ferocious brute opened its jaws, to utter a hideous roar, its long tusks gleamed in the morning rays, and the white foam spirted from its mouth like flakes of snow, while its bristly hide seemed to glitter in the light, as if throwing out sparks of fire. The eager huntsman rushed forward after it, eyeing with joy the ghastly grinning head, which he expected soon to sever from its huge, ill-fashioned carcass, and which was to form the foundation of his fortune, and the pledge of his union with his mistress. He forgot that Hendrick was also in the field with his friends, and their unerring dogs, or, if he thought of him, it was only to enjoy the anticipated mortification of his former friend, when he returned to the village, bearing with him the spoil for which they both thirsted so ardently.