The Cow 321 



come to her help. If Watch had been 

 alone, she would have sounded this rallying- 

 call. Human company changed his presence 

 from a menace to an irritation. Watch met 

 the charge by dropping behind Joe, not slink- 

 ing, but simply effacing himself until there 

 was need of action. Black Mammy soothed 

 the cow, fed her a little bran with gun- 

 powder mixed through it, and while the beast 

 ate, tried to get her hand upon the swollen 

 udder. With cows broken to the pail that 

 was easy. Heifers, just coming in, backed 

 away from her, sometimes with brandished 

 horns. Then there was nothing for it but 

 to find the calf and drive it home with the 

 mother. Unless a cow, especially a young 

 cow, is milked clean soon after calving, the 

 milk will clot, cake, set up fevers, and spoil 

 the udder — particularly if she gets her fill 

 of succulent green food. 



Mammy went on with her gang toward 

 the likeliest thickets, looking over her shoulder 

 as she walked, and changing her course until 

 she saw the cow begin to run after. Then 

 she kept straight ahead, and set Watch to 

 snuffing at leaves and brush. Instantly the 

 cow began to run, lowing as she ran. And 

 then out from some brush clump or tuft of 

 sedge there started a calf, a saucy fellow, 

 bright-eyed, with a rich velvety coat, dazzling 



