was escaping responsibility only for a
month or so, he scarcely knew what to say.

"Humph!" he grunted. "You've decided it, have you? Well, we'll see. Now
you trot around and have a good time. I'm goin' to have another smoke.
I'll be here when you get back."

Bos'n wandered off in search of late golden rod. The captain smoked and
meditated. By and by the puffs were less frequent and the cigar went
out. It fell from his fingers. With his back against a pine tree Captain
Cy dozed peacefully.

He awoke with a jump. Something had awakened him, but he did not know
what. He blinked and gazed about him. Then he heard a faint scream.

"Uncle!" screamed Bos'n. "O--o--o--h! Uncle Cyrus, help me! Come quick!"

The next moment the captain was plunging through the scrub of
huckleberry and bayberry bushes, bumping into pines and smashing the
branches aside as he ran in the direction of the call.

Back of the pine grove was a big inclosed pasture nearly a quarter of
a mile long. Its rear boundary was the iron fence of the cemetery. The
other three sides were marked by rail fences and a stone wall. As the
captain floundered from the grove and vaulted the rail fence he swore
aloud.

"By the big dipper," he groaned, "it's that cussed heifer! I forgot her.
Keep dodgin', Bos'n girl! I'm comin'."

The pasture was tenanted by a red and white cow belonging to Sylvanus
Cahoon. Whether or not the animal had, during her calfhood days, been
injured by a woman is not known; possibly her behavior was due merely
to innate depravity. At any rate, she cherished a mortal hatred toward
human beings of her own sex. With men and boys she was meek enough, but
no person wearing skirts, and alone, might venture in that field without
being chased by that cow. What would happen if the pursued one was
caught could only be surmised, for, so far, no female had permitted
herself to be caught. Few would come even so near as the other side of
the pasture walls.

Bos'n had forgotten the cow. She had gone from one golden-rod clump to
another until she had traversed nearly the length of the field. Then the
vicious creature had appeared from behind a knoll in the pasture and,
head down and bellowing wickedly, had rushed upon her. When the captain
reached the far-off fence, the little girl was dodging from one dwarf
pine to the next, with the cow in pursuit. The pines were few and Bos'n
was nearly at the end of her defenses.

"Help!" she screamed. "Oh, uncle