ads diverged; that he had stayed to see MacRummle
make his first two or three casts, during which time the sky cleared,
inducing the laird to close his umbrella, and lean it against the bank,
after which he went away and forgot it. Returning home the next day our
angler found and took charge of it.

That he had been successful that day was made plain, not only by the
extra stoop forward, which was rendered necessary by the weight of his
basket, and the beaming satisfaction on his face, but by the protruding
tail of a grilse which was too large to find room for the whole of
itself, inside.

"You're a lucky man to-day, Dick," murmured the enthusiastic angler to
himself, as he jogged across the field.

Had he known what was in store for him, however, he would have arrived
at a very different estimate of his fortunes!

The field, as we have said, was a large one. MacRummle had reached the
centre of it when the black bull, standing beside the wall at its most
distant corner, seemed to feel resentment at this trespass on its
domain.

It suddenly bellowed in that low thunderous tone which is so awfully
suggestive of conscious power. MacRummle stopped short. He was
naturally a brave man, nevertheless his heart gave his ribs an unwonted
thump when he observed the bull in the distance glaring at him. He
looked round in alarm. Nothing but an unbroken flat for a hundred yards
lay around him in all directions, unrelieved by bush, rock, or tree, and
bounded by a five-foot wall, with only one gate, near to where the bull
stood pawing the earth and apparently working itself into a rage.

"Now, Dick," murmured the old gentleman, seriously, "it's do or die with
you if that brute charges, for your legs are not much better than
pipe-stems, and your wind is--Eh! he comes!"

Turning sharply, he caused the pipe-stems to wag with amazing velocity--
too fast, indeed, for his toe, catching on something, sent him violently
to the ground, and the basket flew over his head with such force that
the strap gave way. He sprang up instantly, still unconsciously holding
on to rod and umbrella.

Meanwhile, the bull, having made up its mind, came charging down the
field with its eyes flashing and its tail on high.

MacRummle looked back. He saw that the case was hopeless. He was
already exhausted and gasping. A young man could scarcely have reached
the wall in time. Suddenly he came to a ditch, one of those narrow open
drains with whi