Unluckily, I had appeared full in the boar's front, and though five or six of the large seizers had got their holds, he made a sudden charge at me that shook them all off, except "Bertram" and "Lena." It was the work of an instant, as I jumped quickly on one side, and instinctively made a downward cut at him in passing.

He fell all of a heap, to the complete astonishment of myself and the furious pack.
He was dead! killed by one blow with the hunting knife.

I had struck him across the back just behind the shoulders, and the wound was so immense that he had the appearance of being nearly half divided.

Not only was the spine severed, but the blade had cut deep into his vitals and produced instant death.
One of the dogs was hanging on his hind quarters when he charged, and as the boar was rushing forward, the muscles of the back were accordingly stretched tight, and thus the effect of the cut was increased to this extraordinary degree.

He was a middling-sized boar, as near as I could guess, about two and a half hundredweight.
Fortunately, none of the pack were seriously hurt, although his tusks were as sharp as a knife.