Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1898-06-16
near them, on a trot, the farmer recog-

near them, on trot, the farmer recog-
nized it.
"IIere is Bolero XVI, registered,
coming back said he. Here comes a
bull that has put more life in the agri-
cultural interests O. this district durin'
the last 20 minutes than has been put
in 'em for the last five years. Here he
comes, and he cost me only $780,
"As the bull came on, Uncle Job
warmed up.
"'rhat unmitigatcd BULL said he,
has butted and stomped my rantanker-
Gus red wagon into kindlin' wood, as
sure as rootybagies, and has tore them
horses into shoestrings, I'll bet cooky.
Maybe won't lambaste that pesky crit
ter when he gifts here
'0There isn't any doubt that Farmer
Jackson honestly intended to lambaste
the critter, but he wasn't entirely post
ed on the bulls points. When Bolero
XIV. got within few rods of the
farmer and his hired man he stopped,
gazed at them a moment, snorted,
shook his head, lowered it, and then
rushed toward them with as much vim,
vigor and fury as he had displayed
when he resented the red wagons glar-
ing defiance and charged upon it from
the barnyard.
"Now it happened that this occurred
in the road directly in front of Farmer
Jackson's sinkhole lot. When the bull
came down the road on the double
quick, snorting and frothing, and plain
ly intent on wiping the farmer and his
man out Of his path, Uncle Job changed
his mind about the lambasting he had
in store for the ugly brute, and he and
his hired man broke for the lot, got over
the fence, and started across the lot
toward the woods on the other side.
The bull followed. The fence was no
more barrier TO his advance than the
barnyard fence had been, and he went
through it with equal force.
DAVID said Farmer Jackson, as he
and the hired man sprinted side by side
across lots, they told me that bull
would follow me like kitten. He's
doin' of it, David, but it's wild cats
kitten, growed up
Owing to the quicksand Enclosure
In the lot, Uncle job and David had to
make rather circuitous course to
reach the vantage ground they were
headed for. The bull, probably having
found fences of so little account in his
way that it was a pleasure for him to
pass through them, took the short cut
across the lot to head the men off,
which brought the fence inclosing the
sinkhole directly in his path. lie
dashed upon the fence and down it went
with a crash. Over its ruins be leaped,
straight upon the unstable spot the
fence had guarded. Instantly he sank
in the treacherous mire, and Farmer
Jackson, who had heard the crash of
the fence and turned his head to look,
saw the catastrophe. He and his man
hurried back to the spot, and got there
in time to see the bull disappear be-
meath the surface of the sinkhole, and
it closed over him and lay as smooth
as if it had never been disturbed. By
and by Farmer Jackson said:
"'David, let this be a warnin' to you.
Never paint your wagons red.'
Farmer Jackson and his man got
back to the road in time to meet a
neighbor leading the runaway team.
The bull hadn't torn them into shoe
strings, as Uncle Job declared his will
lingness to bet he had, but the red
wagon wasn't there.
"'Where's the disquietin' red demo-
crat wagon that stirred up all this
rumpus?' said Farmer Jackson.
"'Well,' said the neighbor, it's strung
pretty much all along the road 'twixt
here and my place, mile or SO furder
down. Pears to me, Uncle Job, as if |
that wagon was leetle the darndest
reddist git-up of a vehicle l ever see.
Why, say, when these horses O. yourn
was lickin' 1t to flinders, darned if the
splinters didn't look like blazin' pine