It would have been the easiest matter in the world for an old wolf to hamstring one of the slow fawns, or the mother caribou herself as she hovered in the rear to defend her young; but there were other thoughts in the shaggy gray head that had seen so much hunting.

Mad as a hornet, he would single out a cub and follow him headlong through brush and brake till some subtle warning thrilled through his madness, telling him to heed his flank; then as he whirled he would find the savage old mother close at his heels, her white fangs bared and a dangerous flash in her eyes as she saw the hamstring so near, so easy to reach.

Again and again the stag would charge, growing more furious at every failure; and every time the wolf leaped aside he left a terrible gash in his enemy's neck or side, punishing him cruelly for his bullying attack, yet strangely refusing to kill, as he might have done, or to close on the hamstring with one swift snap that would have put the big brute out of the fight forever.

[The edition of 1607 also has Mars.] i.e., Hamstring him.

injure, impair, labefy^, damage, harm, hurt, shend^, scath^, scathe, spoil, mar, despoil, dilapidate, waste; overrun; ravage; pillage &c 791. wound, stab, pierce, maim, lame, surbate^, cripple, hough^, hamstring, hit between wind and water, scotch, mangle, mutilate, disfigure, blemish, deface, warp.

On this day Kermit also came across a herd of the big, fierce white-lipped peccary; at the sound of their grunting Nips promptly spurred his horse and took to his heels, explaining that the peccaries would charge them, hamstring the horses, and kill the riders.

The Hamster manual.

The Hamster manual.