"My! didn't he knock us while he was about it?" said Billy. "It just made my head swim, the way he kept us tumbling and rolling."
"Mine too. And he did it so quick. He didn't give a fellow time to say scat before he was right on 'im."
The boys walked round the yard fence, throwing stones at the ram and trying to drive him out. Aleck, however, showed no inclination to go. He stalked back and forth across the yard, perhaps longing for more boys to conquer. But the two who had just escaped him had no intention of getting in his reach again.
What to do they did not know. The sheep was between them and the only unlocked entrance to the house.
"If old Ring was just loose once, he'd soon fix 'im," declared Billy, who believed that Ring could whip anything but an elephant.
"Couldn't you slip around the house and get to Ring before Aleck saw you?"
"Don't believe I want to try it," answered Billy, as he rubbed one bruised knee. He had a great deal of respect for Aleck by this time. "You can if you want to."
Dick didn't want to. "Well, what are we going to do?" he asked, feeling that Billy, being at home, should find some way out of the difficulty.
"I don't know," replied Billy, scratching his head, "unless we just sit down and wait till the old sheep gets ready to leave."
Dick's face fell. He was thinking of the pie and fried chicken which Billy's mother had spoken of as the wagon drove off. "Must be nearly two o'clock," he remarked, glancing up at the sun.