“Dat cow ain’t just right, Mis’ James. I had her out to pastoor in the field as we ’greed to, and tonight when I milked her I finds the udder is hot as fire, and no milk comes out easy-like. Aunt Rachel says dat cow is sick!”
“Dear me, Sam, could she have eaten something in the lot?”
“I dunno, but just afore dinner this noon when I went to get her for a drink of water, she jumped up and down and made out to buck me. I left the pail and ran, but I tried to settle her nerves by sayin’ ‘S-sh! S-sh, Sue—s-sh!’ But she diden’ S-sh for nuttin’.”
“I can’t understand why she should act so,” said Mrs. James.
“Neider does Aunt Rachel. I was goin’ back for the pail of water when she ups and kicks so hard that the stake comes out the groun’. Once she got free she galloped around and at last she jumped clean over the fence and rushed across to the lawn. There she rolled in the grass and acted calm.
“’Bout dis time Susy began to blat and I was ’fraid Sue would get at the calf so I hurried and moved the calf to the barn yard out of the cow’s reach. When I got back to the house she was gone. Aunt Rachel and me hunted everywhere for her all across the pastoor lot, and around the house. Finally we saw her out in Natalie’s garden eating cabbiges and greens——”
Natalie here supplied a frightened interruption with shouting: “Oh, my poor garden again!” Then she rushed indoors, caught a flashlight and raced for her garden. But it was too dark to see how much damage Sue had done to the cabbages and greens, so Natalie came back to the house wailing that the Corporation would have to reimburse her for everything that was ruined.
“Mrs. James and Sam have gone to the barn,” said Janet.
“Let’s go, too, and see what ails the cow,” suggested Norma, and the other girls eagerly complied with the plan.
Mrs. James stood on a box that raised her high enough to allow her to look over into the cow-stall. She was directing Sam who was trying to coax Sue out of her stall so she could be examined. But the cow would not budge. The girls carried a plank over to the partition and placed it upon two boxes so that they could get up and see what was going on.