“We’ll help you get them back into shape again,” said Mr. Bobbsey.
“Can’t I come?” asked Bert, who was eager to do his part.
“Yes, come along!” invited Mr. Watson.
“This is fun!” exulted Bert, as he caught up a stick to wave at the cows and get them back on the main highway.
It may have been fun for Bert Bobbsey, but it was worrisome work for the drover and his men. But finally the bunch of runaway cattle were rounded up, and they were slowly driven out of the lane, away from the peach barn, and toward the main road. Some of Mr. Watson’s cattle, in a near-by pasture, seeing the other bunch of animals, seemed to want to join them. They ran excitedly up and down the field, as close to the fence as they could get.
“If they break out you’ll have hard work separating your cows from the others,” said Mr. Bobbsey to the farmer.
“I guess they won’t break out,” was the reply. “My fences are good and strong.”
It was well they were, for some of the cows tried to knock the rails down with their heads and horns. But the barriers held, and when the runaway cattle were driven back to the highway, the Cloverbank cows quieted down.
Bert did good work, running here and there after stray animals and preventing them from turning back up the lane again. The cows did not seem to know what to do nor where to go.
“Bees and a barking dog are a bad combination in a herd of cattle,” remarked Mr. Watson, when the drover was thanking him for having helped to get the animals started on their way again. “It’s a good thing your animals didn’t overrun my farm.”