Then Violet’s voice sounded again:
“Oh, but Laddie, they are going to hook me! Oh! Oh!”
“Come on!” called Russ to his sister Rose, and together they rushed up out of the little glen where the stream ran and hastened toward the clump of trees and bushes whence came the voices of Laddie and Violet. Ralph and his dog were not in sight.
“Do you suppose the cows are trying to hook Laddie and Violet with their horns?” asked Rose.
“I don’t think cows would,” panted Russ as he ran on followed by Rose, who could not go quite so fast. “Cows don’t hook you, I guess, but bulls do, though I didn’t hear Ralph say there were any bulls in this pasture.”
“Is a bull worse than a cow?” Rose asked.
“For hooking you a bull is the worst there is,” Russ answered. “But I don’t suppose it’s a bull. Maybe the cows are only shaking their heads at Violet and she thinks they’re trying to hook her.”
And this is just what had happened. Laddie and Violet had found the lost cows. The two black animals were standing peacefully in a shady place, chewing their cud. Perhaps they were day-dreaming, if cows ever do such things. At any rate the cows paid no attention to the “co, boss” called by the children.
Laddie had fairly stumbled upon the hiding place of the cows, and as Russ and Rose reached the place they saw Laddie and his twin sister standing with their backs against a big tree, as Rose had stood when Jimsie barked at her.
In front of Laddie and Violet were the two cows, chewing their cud, as I have said. But as Russ looked he could see no signs that the cows were going to “hook” Violet, as she had shouted they were about to do.