midday
`` Call the dogs ! stand ready to fire ! '' And we pressed through the bushes to the spot where Ernest had seen the creature . The ground was grubbed up , and some potatoes lay about , showing that we had disturbed him at his midday meal . Ernest and Jack were more disposed to gather the roots than to follow up the chase . Fritz and I alone went after the dogs , who eagerly pushed on , and by the sounds we heard had evidently attacked the boar at no great distance . Terrific barking , snarling , and grunting guided us to the scene of action , and we beheld our mastiffs one on each side of a large respectable-looking pig , holding on by the great ears , while the animal , on seeing us , appeared rather to beseech our interference than to propose to offer a desperate resistance .