FEROCIOUS CATTLE. 
165 
neiice, as if to see the full extent of her fate, and then stood as 
nailed to it, save only her arms, which she threw aloft in her 
despair, which would indeed have been as fragile in defence 
as a rotten reed. Her tender body would have been nothing 
against a force that could have broken bars of brass, and horns 
that might have transfixed an animal of its own size. As I have 
said, directly towards the unprotected young lady the bull drove 
forward : with intentest eve he came on, he mistook his mark 
not an inch ; for as the multitude behind him yelled their hor¬ 
ror, he dashed with prodigious strength and madness against 
her. 
Was it not a miracle that the dear young woman escaped 
unhurt and untouched ? Yet it is true : for the terrific animal 
struck at her so accurately, that a horn smote the dead wall on 
either hand, thus embracing, but from their great length shield¬ 
ing, her person from even the slightest damage. But the stanch 
wall withstood the tremendous thrust, and sent back with re¬ 
bounding force, to a great distance, the huge and terrible brute, 
throwing him prostrate, never to rise again : for numberless de¬ 
structive weapons were plunged into him before he had time to 
recover from the recoil. Whether the lady’s hair changed co¬ 
lour I never heard ; but some wonderful alteration might well be 
conceived to testify the extent of her petrified despair. 
I remember another story about a bull chase, and the catas¬ 
trophe that befel my friend, the Laird of-, as described to 
me by himself. The creature was a favourite, which he intended 
to exhibit at a competition of cattle, and which had a character 
for remarkable docility and good nature ; attributes which the 
laird proclaimed, that all who meant to breed a fine dairy stock 
might be apprised where an excellent parentage was to be found: 
for every dairyman knows the value of a kindly tempered cow, 
not only as regards guiding and handling, but in the article of 
milk. Among the Dunlop cheesemakers, it is a beautiful sight, 
that of the milk-maid, when the milking hour comes, standing 
at the gate of the enclosure where the herd are grazing and 
ruminating, and enticing them home to her, by merely chanting 
—‘ Pretty ladies ! pretty ladies !’ As they approach her, she 
has a name for each, and a liking, according to their several 
merits, whilst they court her approbation by submitting to the 
hand that is held out. The laird had been among his cattle on 
the occasion referred to, and was returning from them, at a pace 
suited to his bandy legs and rotund corpus, when he was adver¬ 
tised of something extraordinary being in the wind, by a croon¬ 
ing at no great distance behind. This was no other than the 
voice of his favourite bull making decidedly to address him. 
