Page:Fairview Boys and their Rivals.djvu/81

Rh got to keep him away till Minnie and Benny get into the schoolhouse."

What Bob tried to do now was to get the attention of the animal away from the children. He gave the red cape a fling right into the face of the animal. It fell at one side. The bull eyed it and made a dash for it.

"Good! they're safe!" cried Bob, as he saw Minnie and Benny pass through the open doorway of the schoolhouse. They fairly fell over the threshold in their wild haste and fear.

The bull drove its head down at the cape. Then the animal stamped it to fragments in the soft sod. Then with a frightful bellow it started for Bob.

"It's a run, and a fast one," thought Bob.

He made a straight bee-line for the schoolhouse, not daring to risk looking behind him. He could hear the great thudding hoofs of the pursuing bull strike the ground hard and fast.

The animal snorted, and once Bob almost fancied he could feel its hot breath sweep the back of his neck. At any rate, it was an eager race.

"I've made it!" cried the lad, breathless and excited, as he bounded over the threshold of the schoolhouse door.

As he did so he knocked over Frank and Sammy, crowding towards it to see what was going on. Bob had just a glimpse of crowding, frightened boys and girls.

"Shut the door!" he yelled, and got to his feet to help two of the scholars to give it a quick slam.

Bob shot the bolt just in time. The door shook violently the next moment, as the heavy body of the bull grazed it.

"What is it?" asked Miss Williams, hurrying from her desk.

"It's a mad bull," said Sammy.