He
bellowed fiercely as he advanced.
"Happily, when he charged I was able to spring aside, and so he passed
me. But I saw that the wall at the end of the field was several hundreds
yards off, and I felt, if the bull turned again to pursue me, my life
would not be worth much.
"Then I saw my faithful George standing sullenly beside me, all his
'hackles' up, and waiting for the enemy with an ominous growl.
"The bull again turned, but my dog met him, and something of the
inherited mastiff love of feats in the bull-ring must have awoke within
him, for when the bull came after me the old dog flew at his nose,
courageously worried him, and fairly ended by routing him. In the
meantime I slipped over the loose stone wall, and ran and opened the
gate at the bottom of the field, through which trotted a few minutes
later my protector.
"I told my story when I returned to the house, and the keeper promised
me that he would speak to the bailiff at our landlord's farm and have
the bull taken away on the following day.
"Now, the grass of the paddock being particularly tender and sweet, it
was the custom for the 'hill ponies' to graze at night in company with
the cows and the bull. The horses and cattle had hitherto done so,
without causing any damage to each other; but the morning after my
adventure one of the ponies was found gored to death, and an old
cart-mare who had been running there with a foal was discovered to be so
terribly injured that she had to be shot.
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