CHAP. iv. XSTS NEAR STONEHA VEN. 73 



been told, he let it go, though he still held by it at the 

 far end. Away went the bull along the road, dragging 

 the boy after him. So long as the full stretch of rope 

 lay between them, Edward did not care so much ; but 

 when the animal rushed into a field of corn, he let 

 go altogether, and resumed his journey. 



He had not gone far before he found, on looking 

 back, that he was hotly pursued by the animal. Ob- 

 serving his danger, Edward rushed into a clump of 

 trees standing by the roadside, and, throwing down 

 his bundle, he proceeded to climb one of them.- He 

 had only ascended a few yards when the brute came 

 up. The bull snorted and smelt at his bundle, threw 

 it into the ditch with his horns, bellowed at the boy 

 up the tree, gave a tremendous roar, then dashed out 

 of the wood, and set off at full speed down the nearest 

 byway. Edward was flurried and out of breath ; he 

 rested in the tree for a short time, then descended 

 and ran along the road for some miles until he thought 

 that he was out of reach of further danger. 



This was the only adventure that he met with on his 

 homeward journey. He passed through Bervie with- 

 out molestation. But, instead of reaching Aberdeen 

 that night, as he had intended, he rested near Stone- 

 haven. He went through the town, and got into a 

 corner of the toll-bar dyke, where he sat or lay 

 until daybreak. He then got up and commenced the 

 last stage of his journey. 



On reaching the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, he 



