journey as
the horses, since, bawling at intervals, she planted her feet and
allowed her neck to be stretched until Wallie was fearful that it would
separate, leaving only her gory head in the halter.

With this unpleasant possibility confronting him, Wallie shrank from
putting too much strain upon it with the result that the cow learned
that if she bawled loud enough and laid back hard enough, he would ease
up on the rope by which he was dragging her.

Wallie had been taught from infancy that kindness was the proper method
of conquering animals, therefore he addressed the cow in tones of
saccharine sweetness and with a persuasive manner that would have
charmed a bird off a tree.

"Bossy! Bossy! Good bossy!" he cajoled her.

Immune to flattery, she looked at him with an expression which reminded
him of a servant girl who knows she is giving notice at an inopportune
time. Then she planted her feet still deeper in the sand and bawled at
him.

"Darn it!" he cried, finally, in his exasperation.

As he sat helpless in his dilemma, wondering what to do next, an idea
occurred to him which was so clever and feasible that he lost no time in
executing it.

If he tied the cow to the stirrup of his saddle and she showed no
disposition to escape, then he could walk and drive the work-horses
ahead, returning for his saddle-horse and the cow! This, to be sure, was
a slow process, but it was an improvement over spending the night going
around in a circle.

Wallie tied the cow's rope to the stirrup and both animals stood as if
they were nailed to the spot while he ran after the work-horses, who had
wandered in another direction. His boots, he noted, were not adapted to
walking as they pinched in the toes and instep. He could not stop for
such a small matter at this critical moment, however, so he continued to
run until he overtook the horses and started them homeward.

Turning to look at the cow and his saddle-horse, he saw them walking
briskly, side by side, like soul-mates who understood each other
perfectly, in the opposite direction from which he wanted them to go. He
left the horses and ran after the cow, shouting:

"Whoa--can't you?"

He reasoned swiftly that the Jersey was the nucleus of a herd which
would one day run up into the thousands, and he must get her at all
hazards.

"Whoa! Bossy--wait for me!" he pleaded as at top speed he went after
her.

"Good bossy! Good bossy!" His quavering voice was pathetic.