Evening star., 1925-04-12

solid beef which was hurtling toward
them from the direction of the nearby
meadows.
THE bull was in a particularly viii
= famous humor this morning. A
cloud of mayfiies had been singing
him for nearly an hour. They had
turned his back and chest and the
tender skin of his throat into one
anguished expanse of burning and
itching. While he had been snorting
and rolling in a vain effort to Danish
the pests, the din OF the dog fight
had come to his ears. Straight in the
direction of the sound he charged.
Fifty feet away he found his progress
stayed by the stout willow hurdles
of the meadow fence. Ordinarily he
would have accepted the obstacle as
, impenetrable. Now he did not so
much as pause for IT. His ton of
fury driven weight went through the
hurdle as through a paper hoop. He
did not even break his stride for it.
In another moment he had cleared
the underground and had gained the
open ground of the glade.
There, though the fight was over,
he found plenty of targets for his
wrath. In the Elade's center, sparl-
ing and straining al a leash, writh ed
Loris. Ten. feet farther away and
eyeing the intruder with cold disap-
proval stood Bobby Bruce. And close
to the collie crouched a man who was
notice.
He attracted It.
He attracted il to the exclusion of
the girl who was clinging to her
hickory perch. The scent of blood
was in the air. Both dogs. particu-
larly the tied one, offered splendid
victims to the bulls wrath. But the
waving coat drew him most of all.
And the bull lowered his head TO
charge
At the first step OF the rush Dick
of the neighborhood of Ruth and in
the opposite direction.
A bull always shuts his eyes when
he charges. But Dick had purposely
begun his own retreat before the
monster was well in motion. Thus
the bull swerved and tore across the
turf at him. Realizing that the ami
mails attention was turned wholly
from Ruth. Dick Malvern took to his
heels and gave a creditable exhibit
ton of sprinting.
The girl, aghast and speechless, saw
the bull dash after him in close and
homicidal pursuit. Even as an odd
little thrill at her heartstrings re-
warded Dicks sacrifice, she saw a
catapu1t of tawny and white fur whiz
across the glade, flash past the lum-
berfng pursuer and make bewilder-
ingly swift sidewise leap. At the
same instant the bull was aware of a
70pound weight that had attached
itself to the right side OF his throat
and of a set of deadly jaws that Glove
his tortured flesh
At the pain and the impact the bull
swerved to one side. Twice and three
times he essayed to start after Dick,
but every time Bobby Bruce was be-
fore him, behind him. to one side or
the other-slashing leaping, nipping,
DETECTING the incipient rushes
Wherefore the bull proceeded to for
get his rage against Malvern and to
devote himself to the slaughter of the
collie.
Bobby Bruce, his object accom-
plished, took to his heels, moving di-
rectly away from his master and
keeping only a yard or TWO in front
of his galloping foe.
Painting, laughing like a schooiboy
Dick made for the hickory tree.
"Bobby1l never let him catch up
in a thousand years" he treasured
the shaky Ruth. He is leading him
away at the rate of fifty miles an
hour. So-
A sharp little cry from Ruth inter
rupted him. He followed her ner-
vously pointing finger. And he un-
derStood.
Having chased Bobby as far as the
thither edge of the glade and seem
ing to despair of catching him, the
bull had paused. Then his eyes had
fallen on Loris. struggling helplessly
at the end of the leash and utterly at
the bulls mercy.