The one who was in peril had made a quick upward leap, seized hold of a lower limb, which doubtless he had been looking at closely with a view to using it; and bringing into play some of his marvelous agility as a climber, he threw his lithe figure up until he could sit astride of the new perch.
But his enemy had by now become aware of what he was doing. The bull had been bellowing in an ugly way, and tossing the earth with his horns; and it was while this performance was going on that Lanky had taken advantage of the attention of the animal being turned away from him to make his upward leap.
Although the bull charged and even tried to reach his dangling legs, Lanky was able to draw them up in such a way that he felt safe.
Then Frank, for the first time, laughed. Since Lanky had managed to get beyond the reach of the black beast, and seemed uninjured after his close call, the humorous side of the adventure struck the other boys.
“Now will you be good, Lanky?” jeered Bones. “He’s got you nailed there in that tree good and fast. What word shall we take to your folks at home? Want to send ’em any message? Expect to get your meals by aeroplane or kite? He’s going to camp right there till you oblige him by coming down, believe me, Lanky.”
“Cut that chaff out, Bones, and be thinking up some scheme to coax the old sinner away!” called back the beleaguered one, who had climbed higher in the tree and could see his chums plainly as they sat upon the fence nearby.
“Huh! I suppose now you’d like me to step over there and call him away; wouldn’t you, Lanky?” demanded Bones. “But all the same I’m not goin’ to do it. There’s only one way you can get out of that tree.”
“Then tell me,” cried Lanky, eagerly.
“Grow some wings and fly!” answered Bones, with a loud laugh.
Frank saw that the situation, while not desperate, had its unpleasant features. He knew something about the persistency of bulls in general. He had heard of one that kept a farmer in a tree all night, and a good part of the next day, nibbling the grass whenever he got hungry, and always guarding the tree so that there was no chance whatever for escape. And the man might have died from weakness had not a neighbor happened to hear his shouts and shot the bull.