“Oh! Oh!” screamed Margy. “He’ll hook us!” I do not really believe the bull at first had any notion of running after the children. He had merely gotten out of his pasture and was wandering about when Laddie saw him. He came to the brook to get a drink. Then, after splashing into the water and quenching his thirst, he saw the six little Bunkers and actually ran toward them. But they had a good start and hastened toward the hen-house. With a bellow the bull took after them, his tail out stiff in the air, his head down and his hoofs making the dirt fly. There were, perhaps, more reasons than one why the bull chased the children. He might have thought they had salt to give him, for often Farmer Joel and his men gave this dainty to the bull and the cows in the fields. Or the bull may have been just playful. Or perhaps his temper was just ugly. It is hard to tell sometimes the difference between playfulness and temper. Bulls are strong and like to show off their strength, sometimes butting their heads against a fence just for fun, it seems. At any rate on came this bull after the children, and Russ and Rose hastened with their younger brothers and sisters toward the open door of the hen-house. They reached it some little distance ahead of the charging animal. In they ran. Russ closed the door and placed against it a strong stick he found on the floor. The hen-house was deserted except for one chicken that had strayed in to lay an egg, and she flew off the nest, cackling in surprise, as the children entered. Mun Bun and Margy laughed at this, and Rose was glad, for she did not want them to be too frightened. She and Russ expected every moment to hear the bull dash against the hen-house door. The boy was afraid, if this happened, that the shaky door would be broken so the bull could get in. But, to his surprise, a moment later Laddie cried: “Look! He ran right past here!” And that is just what happened. The bull, charging head down, had carried himself well past the hen-house, but could be seen to one side rushing around. That is one difference between a bull and a cow. A bull charges with his head down and cannot well see where he is going, so that if one is very active he can leap out of the way. But a cow rushes at you with head up and “takes better aim,” as Laddie expressed it. So this is how it happened that the bull rushed past the hen-house without doing any damage. Rose breathed a sigh of relief, and she said: “Now don’t make any noise and maybe he won’t know we’re here. Keep still!” And you may be sure the four small little Bunkers did—very still. Through the window the children watched the bull. He stopped running and looked about. He bellowed, he pawed the earth, and he seemed puzzled. Perhaps he was wondering where those children went to, and how thankful they all were that they were in the hen-house! “But if he bumps into it he’ll knock it over,” whispered Laddie.