76 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
brook by the warning noise of the beaters some 
distance off. The old bull led the way with a 
tremendous leap into the thickets, away from the 
noise, and brought them up sharp against the 
eighteen-foot-high wire fence. The bull, in fact, 
was going at such a gait, and was so excited with 
alarm, that his horns actually collided with it, and 
it sagged away from him. 4s it gave before the 
impact of his great body (his antlers alone prob- 
ably weighed fifty pounds or more), there was a 
crashing noise, as of wood breaking.’ The bull 
pulled back, and looked. Yes, one of the chest- 
nut posts which held the fence up had rotted, and 
cracked at the ground! He drew back with a 
short, sharp snort, and then went into the fence 
again, deliberately this time, and close to the 
post. It gave completely, and the post sagged so 
far out that the top of the fence was only six feet 
above the ground. Once more the bull drew 
back, gathered his great muscles for the spring, 
and cleared it. The second cow followed, and 
then Bill’s mother, with a kind of tooting noise 
which Bill knew meant, “Come on!” gathered 
herself and sprang. 
