"Yes! It's not a bull, but a cow, with two sheep-dogs and two drovers after it. How the drovers are yelling! Oh, I say, what a shame! One of the dogs bit the cow on the leg then! Oh! She's going for him with her horns! There, now, the other dog's bitten her! What are they trying to do? Hi, you men, there, call back those dogs of yours and let that poor brute go on quietly, do you hear?"
The men heard, and one of them shouted something in reply which the boys did not catch.
"I hate to see cattle driven," Tom said; "they get so badly treated, poor things. Those drovers ought to be taken up for driving a cow as fast as that and letting their dogs worry her; it's dreadfully cruel of them. I wonder where they're taking her? She looked terribly wild. They'll never be able to drive her through the town, if that's their intention; but perhaps they mean to put her in a field somewhere on the road. I don't suppose she'd have hurt us, but it's as well to be on the safe side of the gate, isn't it?"
"Yes, indeed," agreed Peter, who was looking very concerned. "I hate to think of animals being served badly," he said; "do you think the dogs were injuring the cow, Tom?"
"They seemed to be very rough with her, I thought. Which way shall we go home, Peter?"
"If we go through the woods and fields I shall have to lead Bounce," Peter answered, "but we'll go which way you like, of course."
"Oh, Bounce shan't have his walk spoilt!" Tom said, good-naturedly. "We'll return by the road; then you can let him run."
Five minutes later they had turned their backs on Hatwell Green, and were walking towards the town, the two dogs running on ahead. At the first turn in the road Tom remarked that he saw a caravan, and added excitedly that it was a red and yellow one and might be the Lees'.
"Is it coming this way?" asked Peter, eagerly.
"It's drawn up beside the hedge. Oh, it is the Lees'! I recognise the horse, and—yes, there's Moses himself standing by it! Oh, Peter, listen! The cow is coming back. I understand now—the dogs were trying to turn her! How stupid of me not to think of that before!"