The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-03-28

nets required I'll our skiIl; Lat to or
own resources, we stlength hit upon I
plan to turn our two implacable enc
mics one against the other. / believe
It was Sip who first proposed that Ne
should try to get the bul into the
hornets nest; but we all, girls and
bows, helped to carry ont the scheme.
First. we looked for good hole In
the fence on the lower side Of the road,
through which we could beat hasty
retreat to the bushes. Az have said,
the hornets nest was just inside Of the
pasture where Dagon reigned supreme
The fence along here CHANGED to be
pretty good, being through bushes
where fencing stuff was plenty. and we
had not much fear that the bull would
leap over it We waited for an oppor-
tunity to draw Dagon into our plot.
At length, one Thursday afternoon, we
saw him within twenty rods of the
hornets nest.
Now, ole feller," said Sip, g wen
get you into the limboesr'
First, we sent Elsie off into the bush
es, to be out Of the way Rike, Sip and
l then got old hemlock knots to throw,
and cautiously posted ourselves in the
high brakes. twenty or thirty yards
from the hornets nest.
Iwen remember what hot, muggy
afternoon it was. Al now began to
stalk along the road, and to initiate
Dagon's deep, gruff booings; while Kitty
stood and waved her little hat, trimmed
with an old red ribbon.
The sound of this counterfeit chal.
lenge soon came to Dagon's jealous
ears. He raised his head and glared
around, then began to below and paw,
breaking out at times into loud.
trumpet-like defiance. Catching sight
of Hitty's hat, he started for the road
at confident trot. No doubt he meant
to teach US a lesson that we should not
soon forget. -.ss
"He's comiHgr' "He's comingr' al
and Kitty both cried, and darfed
through the hole in the lower fence.
We boys in the brakes rose and let
fly our knots at the hornets nest.
Whack, whacki they went against it,
and out poured the hornets with angry
hum, just as Dagon. with a menacing
below, came crashing through the
brush down to the fence.
Thanks to our stratagem, he found
things ready for him! Sip, Rike and l
had fled, but we heard the sounds of
fearful commotion. Scores of the in
furiated hornets darted at Dagon the
instant he presented himself. But,
long accustomed to brighten and drive
everybody and everything, the bull was
10th to fiv.
He plunged and tore about, uttering
some of the oldest believing and baw1-
ings that I ever heard. The fence
cracked. and we could see the bushes
waving and swaying. The more Da-
gon tore around, the more the hornets
stung him. Though we saw little of
the tussle, we could hear enough to
make sure that Dagon had all he could
attend to.
Sip plucked up courage to creep back
along the fence, below the road. A
minute after, he called out that the bull
had run; and then we all saw Dagon
going up across the pasture. with tail
erect, snOrting like twenty bagpipes!
That was sport for us, and we ex-
eAtCN W Jul hCuA 70 CpAtClt. Dute 1Ol
good reasons, we each promised to say
nothing of our trick.
Next day we saw the other cattle,
but not Dagon. That night it was
rumored about that the bull was sick
all swelled up-didn't know what
allied him-supposed to be poisoned.
A few days after, it was reported
that daniels bull'' had somehow got
into hornets nest, and was stung and
injured. Every one thought it very
singular circumstance.
But Dagon was not killed, though it
was nearly fortnight before he again
made his appearance in the pasture-a
wiser and better bull. From that day
he never took any notice of us children.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Daniels had come bv
night, with a huge bundle of straw,
and burned out the hornets nest. So
that one and the same stroke of mother
wit ridded us of both our bugbcars, and
we had nothing more to modest us on
our way to school. u Youths Companion.