All the ferocity of the bull seemed to have evaporated. They backed him off the veranda while the girls and boys returned with much excitement and noise. The bull, half smothered in the folds of the cape, uttered a rather plaintive "moo!"
"Hear that creature, will you?" cried Miss Pringle's strident voice. Then, with increased excitement: "What have you got his head wrapped in, I want to know? For the land's sake if it isn't my best broadcloth cape! Now what do you folks know about that!"
The laugh that rose after this excited statement by the spinster relieved the situation to some degree. But it did not pacify Hiram Strong's anger.
"I wish with all my heart I had trounced that Banks fellow this afternoon when I had the chance," he declared to Orrin.
"I agree with you. Nothing but a blamed good licking will ever do a fellow like him any good."
"I don't want to do him good," grumbled Hiram. "I just want to pound him and make him suffer."
But they were not likely to see Adam Banks again just then, or have a chance to beat him properly. Having encouraged younger boys to help lead Turner's bull from the pasture to Sunnyside and turn him loose, Banks had taken his own hasty departure.
Then, evidently awakening to the enormity of his offence after he reached home, he packed a bag and departed from his father's house before daybreak and was not seen in the neighborhood again for some time.
The excitement did not serve to spoil the house-raising dance, however, for when the bull was led away the crowd returned to the dance floor, and the gaiety continued until long after midnight.
Hiram met most of the people worth knowing for a wide district surrounding Sunnyside Farm, and he was glad to make their acquaintance in this friendly way. Most of all, however, did he enjoy the dance because of the presence of Lettie Bronson. She gave him several dances, and when he finally put her into the car beside her father Hiram secretly felt that this evening was marked with a very agreeable milestone in his career.