ere all eagerly talking and
explaining.

'Why didn't you run away, little chap?' the gentleman said; 'don't you
know that you were just on the point of being tossed by the horns of
that bull?'

'Oh no,' Bobby said in a confident tone, recovering himself; 'I was
going to whack him 'cross the nose--least Nobbles was. Nobbles can
kill bulls if he likes!'

He held out his stick with pride, then looked pityingly at the fallen
bull, whose master was surveying it with some dismay.

'Is the poor cow quite dead? I was awful 'fraid when I saw you knock
him over.'

The gentleman looked at Bobby very strangely, then turned back to his
car.

'True!' he called, 'come and speak to this little boy. I've never seen
such pluck before. Tell him he needn't waste his pity on the bull,
which would have killed him had we not prevented it!'

A little girl, with a mop of unruly brown hair escaping from a quaint
sun-bonnet, was still sitting in the car and regarding the scene with
big awestruck eyes. In a moment she jumped out and approached Bobby.
She was only half a head taller than he was, and now gazed at him with
soft, sweet grey eyes.

'Poor little boy!' she said. 'What's your name?'

'I'm not a poor boy,' said Bobby with head erect; 'me and Nobbles will
be walking on, for we're in a partic'lar hurry.'

A sudden panic had seized him that this gentleman might take him home
again; he had a great dislike to be the centre of a crowd, and the
cattle-drovers were all surrounding him now, gesticulating and talking
loudly. And Bobby was rather shy of other children; he generally felt
strangely antagonistic towards them. This little girl's gentle pity,
and her desire to know his name, frightened and annoyed him.

He turned his back upon her and hurried off, with very little idea of
the danger from which he had been saved. But he had not gone a hundred
yards before, to his consternation, he met John, the groom, driving
back from the town in the dogcart. He pulled up instantly.

'Why, Master Bobby, you ain't by yourself all this way from home?'

'Me and Nobbles are here,' said the small boy with dignity.

It did not take John long to get out and lift the little runaway up to
the seat beside him, and Bobby was soon being driven home with a
crestfallen unhappy face.

'Everybodies always stops me when I want to do fings!' he complained to
Nurse when she took him to task for being so naughty.

And Nurse was so angry with hi