our
cow go down into a ditch. At first I wanted to hold her by the rope, but
she seemed very docile, and quite accustomed to grazing, so after a time
I twisted the rope around her horns and sat down near her to eat my
supper. Naturally we had finished eating long before she had, so after
having admired her for some time and not knowing what to do next, we
began to play a little game with each other. When we had finished our
game, she was still eating. As I went to her, she pulled at the grass
sharply, as much as to say that she was still hungry.

"Wait a little," said Mattia.

"Don't you know that a cow can eat all day long?" I replied.

"Well, wait a little."

We got our baggage and instruments together, but still she would not
stop eating.

"I'll play her a piece on the cornet," said Mattia, who found it
difficult to keep still. "There was a cow at Gassot's Circus and she
liked music."

He commenced to play a lively march.

At the first note the cow lifted up her head; then suddenly, before I
could throw myself at her horns to catch hold of the rope, she had gone
off at a gallop. We raced after her as fast as we could, calling to her
to stop. I shouted to Capi to stop her. Now one cannot be endowed with
every talent. A cattle driver's dog would have jumped at her nose, but
Capi was a genius, so he jumped at her legs. Naturally, this made her
run faster. She raced back to the last village we had passed through. As
the road was straight, we could see her in the distance, and we saw
several people blocking her way and trying to catch hold of her. We
slackened our speed, for we knew now that we should not lose her. All we
should have to do would be to claim her from the good people who had
stopped her going farther. There was quite a crowd gathered round her
when we arrived on the scene, and instead of giving her up to us at
once, as we expected they would, they asked us _how_ we got the animal
and _where_ we got her. They insisted that we had stolen her and that
she was running back to her owner. They declared that we ought to go to
prison until the truth could be discovered. At the very mention of the
word "prison" I turned pale and began to stammer. I was breathless from
my race and could not utter a word. At this moment a policeman arrived,
and, in a few words, the whole affair was explained to him. As it did
not seem at all clear, he decided to take possession of the cow and have
us locked up until we could