Part 3 (1/2)
”Yes, what about him?” Elmer exclaimed; while Landy laid a quivering hand on Ted's arm and inquired:
”'Taint a rattlesnake, I hope, this time, Ted?”
The other shook his head in the negative.
”Bull!” he articulated.
”Oh, he means that our poor pard has been chewed up by a bulldog!” cried Landy. ”And Ty never did like dogs, either; only hot ones at the county fair.”
”No, no!” whispered Ted. ”Gentleman cow, you thee, and the motht thavage looking beatht ever. Wow!”
”A bull! Now I know what you mean,” Landy went on, as the light of understanding broke over his mottled countenance. ”Some of these farmers up here do keep terrors, and enter them in the exhibition for prizes.
But what did the bull do to our poor chum Ty?”
”Don't know; didn't ask Ty,” replied the other, now beginning to get his breath back again fairly well, so that his voice, lisp and all, was audible. ”You thee, I wath jutht about to thaunter acroth a field, when I heard thome one yelling like the d.i.c.kenth. Then I thaw a big red bull pawing the grath at the foot of a tree; and there wath Ty, ath big ath life, thitting up on a limb. That'th all I thaw, for the bull tharted after me, and I got over the fenthe like fun.”
The boys stared at each other; then a wide grin began to appear on their faces. Since it seemed as though their chum had not been seriously injured they could not resist the temptation to chuckle over the comical aspect of the adventure.
”Say, perhaps the bull just went and heaved Ty up in that tree,”
suggested Landy.
”Oh, I hardly think it went as far as that,” said Elmer. ”The chances are, Ty had plenty of warning, and climbed without any help from the beast.”
”But why would the bull hang around all the time?” asked the fat boy, wonderingly. ”Bulls don't feed on boys, do they?”
”Not very often,” laughed Elmer. ”But they do seem to hate a certain color above all things on this earth. You remember that the Spaniards use a red flag to make the bull attack in the ring?”
Then Landy saw a great light.
”Ty's famous old red sweater, that's what!” he shouted. ”It's gone and pulled him into a peck of trouble, for a fact. And just last night he was blowing about what a great help it had been to him. Say, he must be in a nice pickle now, hey?”
”Breakfast will have to wait a while,” declared Elmer; ”while the whole bunch of us sally out to rescue our chum in distress. You know the rules of the organization. Come on, fellows.”
Even while speaking, Elmer had placed the coffee pot and the frying pan aside, as far away from the fire as they could go without losing their heat. Adam, Landy and Ted were apparently only too willing to accompany him on his errand of mercy.
Following a trail that led through the woods, they finally came to an open field. It had just one tree, and that growing some distance from the high rail fence.
”There's the bull, just as Ted said,” remarked Elmer, as they looked.
”And he's about the ugliest critter I ever laid eyes on, for a fact,”
remarked Landy. ”My goodness! Look at him tossing up the dirt with those nasty little black horns, would you! And he's punched holes through that tin pail the farmer's women folks loaned us, too. I can see Ty now, because of that nice red sweater he wears. He's waving at us, and there he shouts!”
”Hey, call him off, fellers! Somebody go and coax him around to that other end of the field. I want to come down. Been up here 'most an hour, I guess, and I'm getting tired of it. Elmer, you know how to do the business. Landy, s'pose you climb over and let him see you. He won't be able to resist trying for such a fat prize!”
”Listen to his nerve, boys,” complained Landy. ”He wants me to sacrifice myself on the altar of friends.h.i.+p for him. Just as if I could ever climb over this fence again, if that holy terror came snorting and rampaging for me! I guess not.”
”No need to, Landy,” laughed Elmer, as he noted the indignation of the fat boy. ”We'll find some way to get Ty out of his fix without taking chances of your climbing a fence in one, two, three order.”