Now this wedding was to be an old-fashioned one like they have in the rural districts of Europe, where the bride and the bridesmaids in all their finery without hats or wraps, the groom and all the guests walk in a procession along the country roads or over the fields to the church. The Chums had decided to wait until the wedding procession left the house and then go into the kitchen and look for goodies. At last all had gotten over their fright of bulls and burglars and were smiling and happy as they left the house, little dreaming of what was going to happen then.
The Chums all hid behind some bushes in the yard to watch the bridal party start. First came a boy of about sixteen, dressed in knee breeches, white shirt and blue velvet waistcoat, with a tiny red cap embroidered in gold set on one side of his head. As he led the procession he played on a much beribboned flute.
At a signal the bride and groom followed him, and behind them the father and mother of the bride, and after them came the rest of the guests two by two. It was a bright, beautiful day and the wedding procession made a very picturesque sight as it wound its way across the green fields and over the stile at the bottom of the hill. There too they had to cross a little gurgling stream on stepping stones and then wend their way up a shaded path to the church on the top of a hill.
But the fates must have been against them that day, for they were only half way up the first hill when who should come running at full speed toward them but the big Durham bull chased by none other than Billy Whiskers himself and another goat like him. Once the bull stopped and turned to show fight, but Billy and Nannie made a plunge at him from either side and ran their sharp horns into him. He turned and raced down the road. All he thought of then was to reach his stall in the barn where he would be safe from these awful bossy, cross old goats that were so quick he could not get a chance to hook them, kick them or stamp on them.
But alas! when he reached the lane, the gate was locked and barred. Though he threw his weight against it, he could not break it down. He ran on down the road, looking for some place to slip in to dodge the old goats. He had gone only a short distance when he came to a place where the bars were down where the wedding party had passed through.
Through this he went, and seeing a lot of people in the distance he ran toward them, thinking perhaps they would drive off his tormentors. All unconscious of impending disaster, the wedding party was wending its way to the church, keeping time to the music of the flute and some of the guests singing as they went. It must have been the singing that prevented their hearing the bull’s heavy tread as he ran toward them. He had gotten within fifty feet of them when he stopped running and gave a loud bellow.
If a thunderbolt had sounded from the clear sky, they could not have been more surprised, and of course it threw them in a panic. They ran in all directions, the men either dragging the girls along with them or catching them up in their arms and running for safety. The poor old father and mother of the bride were so stunned and frightened they could not move from where they stood. They just dropped to their knees and prayed to be saved.
The bride, groom and piper were considerably ahead of the others. The groom, seeing a big tree with low limbs ahead of him, picked the bride up in his arms and ran to it. He succeeded in lifting the bride into a crotch of the tree between two big limbs, but before he himself could climb up, the bull was upon him. He dodged around the trunk of the tree and the bull plunged full force into it. He butted it so hard that for a few seconds he stood still, showing it had hurt him badly. Then seeing a long white thing flopping in the breeze and wrapping itself around his head and tickling his nose, he backed off to give it another butt. Just then those terrible goats came running after him again and gave him such a hooking and butting that he turned and ran for the ravine. Billy and Nannie were close on his heels, hooking him every time he tried to slow down to get breath.
But alas! He was carrying the bride’s veil away with him. It had become fastened around his horns and when he started to run it had jerked it from the bride’s head. After the wedding party had watched the two goats chase the bull down into a ravine out of sight, they all got together again and one of the bridesmaids saw the veil on the ground where it had fallen and ran and got it. After straightening it out, she put it on the bride’s head, not much the worse for its hard usage. The procession started again for the church, and I am happy to say that no other mishaps befell them. Had there, I am afraid the bride’s nerves would have given way entirely.