THE ODYSSEY OF OLD BILL 95 
spectacular stunt. No human could explain 
just why he did it, and probably Bill couldn’t 
himself. He had been getting more and more 
restless for several days, wandering far afield 
from the home browsing on the reservation, and 
mulling over what he at last knew was the ap- 
proach of the great crisis, when he would seriously 
challenge the old bull, his father, for the su- 
premacy of the herd. Twice, now, he had chal- 
lenged, once as a mere boy of eighteen months, 
once as a three-year-old, and both times he had 
been defeated. But now it was different. He 
knew his time had come. So he could not be 
quiet. On the fateful morning, he was thirty 
miles from the reservation, and with feet spread 
wide apart and antlers threatening, stood a proud . 
figure in the centre of the road down which Tom 
Shook desired to drive with a load of milk, and 
refused to budge. As Tom’s horse showed a 
strong inclination to upset the milk and go home, 
Tom decided the east road, which branched off 
half a mile back, was, after all, the better way to 
the village. 
At noon Old Bill scared two children, fifteen 
