"Your friend, and you too, be a-trespassing on my field and a-ruining my property, and the law'll have something to say about that."
"Ruined a bramble-bush!" said Templeton.
"And the bush has ruined my clothes," Eves added.
"That there's my hedge, and you've been and knocked a hole in it, and——"
At this moment his tirade was suddenly interrupted by a bellow behind him. A bull, excited by the vagaries of the glider, had trotted up from the far end of the field to investigate, and further roused, probably, by Noakes's loud tones and waving arms, threw down its head and charged. The men scattered. Eves and Templeton made for the gate and vaulted over. Noakes ran one way, his friend another. The bull plunged straight at the glider, sticking in the hedge, and smashed it to splinters. Then it dashed after Noakes, who, seeing no other outlet, flung himself into the ditch below the hedge and scrambled through the tangled lower branches only just in time to escape the animal's horns.
"We must offer to pay Noakes for the damage," said Templeton.
"Rot! We haven't done tuppence-ha'-penny worth; and how do we know it's his field?"
"I'm sure he wouldn't say so if it wasn't, and there's certainly a hole in the hedge. I'll just see what he says."
Noakes, hatless, dishevelled, and scratched, was coming towards them.
"I'm willing to pay any reasonable sum for damages, Mr. Noakes," said Templeton.