removing it?"

He was answered by a burly giant of a bushman, a Wairoa man, who had
scant knowledge of our dandy.

"P'raps you'll be so blanked polite as to show us how to capsize that
blanked beast," he said, adding with bitter irony, "if it ain't too much
to ask from such a blanked, pretty, drawing-room ornament!"

"Oh, certainly! with all the pleasure in life!" responded Dandy Jack
urbanely. "Will you kindly keep my pipe alight for a minute?"

Then, to everybody's amazement, he vaulted over the fence and approached
the bull. Instantly that animal saw him, down went his head, of course,
and up went his tail, as he charged upon the sauntering figure. But Jack
dodged the rush with the nimbleness of a practised picador; and the bull
crashed against the fence. Again and again the same performance was
repeated, while we all watched round the fence, calling to Jack at
intervals to come out of his dangerous situation. He only nodded
carelessly, and continued to saunter about as if no bull was near him.

Presently, the bull stood stock-still, then commenced pawing the ground,
tossing his head and tail, bellowing, and eyeing Jack, who was leisurely
moving towards him right in front. He had apparently grown tired of
charging this figure that always eluded him, and was uncertain what to
do next. So Dandy Jack walked on till he was within a yard or two of the
bull's nose. Then the beast thought it was time to do something, and
concluded to try the effect of one more rush.

But he was too late. Directly that his angry head went down, with a
preparatory sweep, Dandy Jack, whose assumed carelessness really covered
a preternatural degree of alertness, sprang at him.

It was all done so quickly that we spectators could hardly distinguish
what was happening. We saw Jack seize one of the bull's horns with both
hands, we saw him place his foot upon the other. Then came a wrench and
a wrestle, all in the space of one moment, and then Jack was whirling
through the air, to fall lightly enough on the soft ground half a dozen
yards off.

But the bull lay rolling on his back. That twist of his head had
overbalanced him. And before he could recover himself and scramble to
his feet, we had sprang over the fence and got him securely tied with
our ready ropes.

A few minutes later, our eccentric chum was quietly sitting on the
prostrate and helpless carcase of his late antagonist. With his usual
dainty care he was ridding himself of the