o be in some way connected with the broom girl. Suddenly there was a
tumult in the air, a rushing of feet, and cries of fright, and in a
cloud of dust he saw rushing towards him an infuriated bull, which had
evidently escaped from his attendant, for from the iron ring in his
nose still hung the rope by which he had been held. With head lowered
and tail curled high over his back, he dashed towards the two ladies,
who fled in affright before him, one escaping through an open doorway,
while the other, bewildered and terrified, catching her foot in an
upturned stall-table, fell prone exactly in the path of the bull. The
poor animal, as frightened as any of his shouting pursuers, increased
his own mad fury by continually stepping upon the rope which dangled
from the ring in his nose, thus inflicting upon himself the pain from
which he endeavoured to escape.

The girl screamed with terror, as the snorting nostrils and curving
horns came close upon her. In another moment she would undoubtedly
have been seriously gored, had not Will, who was in no wise lacking in
personal courage, rushed in upon the scene. One look at the beautiful,
pale face lying helpless in the dust, and he had seized the creature's
horns. The muscular power of his arms was well known at Garthowen, and
now it stood him in good stead, for calling his full strength to his
aid, he succeeded by a sudden wrench in turning the bull's head aside,
so that the direct force of his attack came upon the ground instead of
the girl's body.

In a moment the enraged animal turned upon his assailant, and probably
Will would have fared badly had not a drover arrived, who, possessing
himself of the rope, gave a sudden and sharp twitch at the bull's nose,
a form of punishment so agonising and alas, so familiar, that the
animal was instantly subdued, and brought under comparative control,
not, however, before his horn had slightly torn Will's arm.

An excited crowd of market people had now reached the spot, and while
the animal, frightened into submissiveness by the blows and cries that
surrounded him, was led away snorting and panting, Will looked in
affright at the girl who lay white and unconscious on the ground.

"Did he toss her?" asked one of the crowd, "or is she only frightened?
Dear! there's white she looks, there's delicate the gentry are!"

"'Tis her foot, I think," said Will; "let be, I will hold her."

"Yes, 'tis her foot," said another, "the bull must ha