OF WILD ANIMALS 249 



"Then the other gates were raised, giving the bull an oppor- 

 tunity to step out. For the first time since his capture he did 

 what was wanted; he voluntarily crept to the rear of the wagon 

 and hobbled out on the ground. Looking around for an 

 enemy to attack and not seeing any, — some of the men having 

 stationed themselves outside the park fence, the others on top 

 of the crate, — he set out for the river, only a few rods away. 



"His courage had not forsaken him, but his strength had. 

 He was no longer the proudly aggressive wild beast he had 

 been. He had reached his limit. The terrible ordeal he had 

 been through; the struggle incident to his capture; the rough, 

 hot ride to the corral, hog-tied, on the hard floor of the dead-ax 

 wagon; the outbursts of passion in the corral; the fighting and 

 second roping in connection with the sawing off of his horns; 

 the battle with the big horse; the ceaseless violence of his de- 

 structive assaults, first in the car, then in the crate, continued 

 for three days and nights, had finally undermined even his iron 

 frame; so when at last he found himself free on the ground, he 

 presented a truly pitiful picture. 



"With his head bent to one side and back curved, with one 

 ear up and the other down, and with a dejected, helpless ex- 

 pression on his face, he hobbled wearily away, barely able to 

 step without falling. Slowly he made his way to the river, 

 waded in, drank, crossed to the far side, staggered laboriously up 

 the low bank, and lay down. The next day he was found in 

 the same spot, — dead." 



The Defense of the Home and Family. Any man 

 who is too cowardly to fight for his home and country deserves 

 to live and die homeless and without a country. 



With this subject of courage the parental and fraternal 

 affections of wild animals are inseparably linked. The defense 

 of the home and family unit is the foundation of all courage, and 

 of all fighting qualities in man or animals. The gospel of self- 

 defense is the first plank in the platform of the home defenders. 

 Obviously, the head of a family cannot permit himself to be 



