“You start the milking, Belle, and I’ll mix the mush for her,” suggested Norma, going to the barn to get the meal.
Belle looked for the stool but could not see it, so she grumbled to herself: “Oh, well! I’ll milk without a seat. Sue always stands still these days and Norma will be holding the pan of mush for her to eat, anyway.”
Janet was very busy in the pig pen, trying to dig out a pool for her pigs to bathe in. Now that the cement was on hand, and she had heard how to mix concrete, she was going to build a fine bath for them. So she merely glanced up when Belle and Norma came to the barn yard to milk the cow.
Belle stooped upon her heels and sat the pail in position, but before she could start milking, Sue gave a vicious kick with a hind foot and sent the pail against the fence of the pig pen. It was badly dented when Belle picked it up and shook it at the cow. That attracted Janet’s attention, and she left the pool-digging and leaned on the fence to watch her companions try to milk Sue.
Norma brought the pan of mush from the barn and hurried with it to Sue’s nose. But Norma had not quite overcome her old timidity of a cow, and Sue’s eyes this morning looked very suggestive of evil. Then, too, those two horns were very long and very curved and very sharp on the ends!
So Norma stood as far on one side as she well could and still manage to hold out the tin pan of corn and bran meal mixed in warm water to keep Sue in a good humor while she was being milked. Being so intent on the cow’s next move, Norma did not notice that Belle was not seated on the stool.
The pail was placed in position again, and Belle again squatted to begin milking. All went well for a few minutes but a horse fly lit on Sue’s leg and took a good hard nip out of it. Instantly the cow kicked rebelliously and switched her tail to try and wipe the pest away. This time the pail rolled over and the contents foamed away in a little stream.
Janet laughed aloud and called to Belle: “Try, try again!”
“Don’t waste futile words—can’t you see that I am trying again and again!”
Norma momentarily forgot her dread of Sue in watching Belle pick up the pail and plank it down hard upon the ground, then squat to try the milking once more. But the horse fly still clung to the cow’s leg and kept the bovine victim aware of its presence, so that Sue finally switched her tail fiercely and suddenly turned her head to see if she could frighten it away by the bobbing of her horns.