CHAPTER III
UP A TREE
The upper lot and south pasture belonging to Mr. Savage were some distance away from the farm, and on a road that was not much used. However, this road connected with the main highway, near the village, and Dan’s fear was that the bull would run into town, creating no end of damage.
“I wonder if I can catch him?” the boy thought. “He’s a swift animal. Oh, dear! I hope he doesn’t meet any girl or woman with a red dress, or there’ll be a terrible time. I wonder why bulls hate red so? But I guess I’d better stop wondering about that, and begin to think how I can stop him, if I do catch him.”
Dan remembered that the bull had a ring in his nose, and to the ring was attached a stout cord, the other end being looped to a buckle in a sort of halter on the animal’s head.
“If I had some sort of a hook I could catch it in the rope or ring, and hold the bull back,” he thought. “It would have to be a pretty long hook, for I wouldn’t dare go very close to the savage animal. I have it! I’ll cut a long pole, with a prong on one end, and I can hook that in the cord, perhaps.”
Dan saw a tree that might provide what he wanted, and he lost little time in cutting a long pole. He trimmed off all the branches but one near the end, and this left him a very good substitute for a hook. The trimming he did as he ran along.
The bull was now out of sight, around a turn in the road, but there was a cloud of dust by which Dan could trace the animal’s movement.
In a little while Dan, still running as fast as he could, met a man driving a horse, attached to a light carriage. The horse seemed frightened, and the man was pale.
“Was that your bull that just ran up the road?” the man asked.
“No, sir; it belongs to Mr. Savage.”