"She's going to charge our tents!" shrieked Corney, who was part way up a tree, so rapid had been his action after being warned by Brad of the danger.
"Head her off, somebody!" whooped Colon, who, however, showed not the least intention of doing anything in that line himself; for he had found a convenient tree, that would afford plenty of shelter if necessary, against the charge of half a dozen frightened cows.
If the animal headed directly toward the camp it was because she had been so bewildered by the various shouts of the boys that she hardly knew which way to turn, in order to escape from what she doubtless considered an attack.
There came a crash.
"There goes one of the tents!" cried Colon; "that's because nobody would do what I said, and head her off. Lots of you were closer than I was. Anyhow, she's gone gallopin' away. Let's see what damage she did!"
Another torch was pulled from the fire; indeed, now that Colon had shown the way, several of the others made haste to secure flaming brands.
"Take care, there, and don't set anything afire!" warned Brad, seeing that a few were inclined to be reckless; "there's quite a lot of dead stuff around here, left over from last Fall. Look out how you handle that torch boys!"
A hasty investigation disclosed the pleasing fact that no harm had come to the racing shell through the wandering about of the grazing cow. Then the campers set to work to get up the tent that had been knocked over.
Of course the excitement died down presently, since there had been no particular damage done, and the boat was uninjured. The boys sat around for an hour or two, talking. Then some of them began to yawn, and to examine the places inside the three tents where they had stowed their blankets, carried along because the summer nights were apt to get cool toward morning.
One by one they crept off, until by degrees the ranks were thinned down to just three—Brad, Bristles and Fred. Even the captain of the club finally declared he was done up with the exercise of the day, and might as well "hunt up the soft side of a board," as he chose to remark; though a soft blanket, doubled on the ground, was really the kind of bed awaiting him.