Johnny made his way on to the road by a stile that led out of the copse, and was soon standing over the earl, while the blood ran down his cheeks from the scratches. One of the legs of his trowsers had been caught by a stake, and was torn from the hip downward, and his hat was left in the field, the only trophy for the bull. "I hope you're not hurt, my lord," he said. "Oh dear, no; but I'm terribly out of breath. Why, you're bleeding all over. He didn't get at you, did he?" "It's only the thorns in the hedge," said Johnny, passing his hand over his face. "But I've lost my hat." "There are plenty more hats," said the earl. "I think I'll have a try for it," said Johnny, with whom the means of getting hats had not been so plentiful as with the earl. "He looks quiet now." And he moved towards the gate. But Lord De Guest jumped upon his feet, and seized the young man by the collar of his coat. "Go after your hat!" said he. "You must be a fool to think of it. If you're afraid of catching cold, you shall have mine." "I'm not the least afraid of catching cold," said Johnny. "Is he often like that, my lord?" And he made a motion with his head towards the bull. "The gentlest creature alive; he's like a lamb generally--just like a lamb. Perhaps he saw my red pocket-handkerchief." And Lord De Guest showed his friend that he carried such an article. "But where should I have been if you hadn't come up?" "You'd have got to the gate, my lord." "Yes; with my feet foremost, and four men carrying me. I'm very thirsty. You don't happen to carry a flask, do you?" "No, my lord, I don't." "Then we'll make the best of our way home, and have a glass of wine there." And on this occasion his lordship intended that his offer should be accepted. CHAPTER XXII. LORD DE GUEST AT HOME. [ILLUSTRATION: (untitled)] The earl and John Eames, after their escape from the bull, walked up to the Manor House together. "You can write a note to your mother, and I'll send it by one of the boys," said the earl. This was his lordship's answer when Eames declined to dine at the Manor House, because he would be expected home. "But I'm so badly off for clothes, my lord," pleaded Johnny. "I tore my trowsers in the hedge." "There will be nobody there beside us two and Dr. Crofts. The doctor will forgive you when he hears the story; and as for me, I didn't care if you hadn't a stitch to your back. You'll have company back to Guestwick, so come along." Eames had no further excuse to offer, and therefore did as he was bidden. He was by no means as much at home with the earl now as during those minutes of the combat. He would rather have gone home, being somewhat ashamed of being seen in his present tattered and bare-headed condition by the servants of the house; and moreover, his mind would sometimes revert to the scene which had taken place in the garden at Allington. But he found himself obliged to obey the earl, and so he walked on with him through the woods.