im, and the men are almost worse than the
boys," said the earl; "but he'll never hurt any one that has not hurt
him." Guided by faith in his own teaching the earl had taught himself
to look upon his bull as a large, horned, innocent lamb of the flock.

As Eames paused on the road, he fancied that he recognised the earl's
voice, and it was the voice of one in distress. Then the bull's roar
sounded very plain in his ear, and almost close; upon hearing which
he rushed on to the gate, and, without much thinking what he was
doing, vaulted over it, and advanced a few steps into the field.

"Halloo!" shouted the earl. "There's a man. Come on." And then his
continued shoutings hardly formed themselves into intelligible words;
but Eames plainly understood that he was invoking assistance under
great pressure and stress of circumstances. The bull was making short
runs at his owner, as though determined in each run to have a toss
at his lordship; and at each run the earl would retreat quickly for
a few paces, but he retreated always facing his enemy, and as the
animal got near to him, would make digs at his face with the long
spud which he carried in his hand. But in thus making good his
retreat he had been unable to keep in a direct line to the gate,
and there seemed to be great danger lest the bull should succeed in
pressing him up against the hedge. "Come on!" shouted the earl, who
was fighting his battle manfully, but was by no means anxious to
carry off all the laurels of the victory himself. "Come on, I say!"
Then he stopped in his path, shouted into the bull's face, brandished
his spud, and threw about his arms, thinking that he might best
dismay the beast by the display of these warlike gestures.

Johnny Eames ran on gallantly to the peer's assistance, as he would
have run to that of any peasant in the land. He was one to whom I
should be perhaps wrong to attribute at this period of his life the
gift of very high courage. He feared many things which no man should
fear; but he did not fear personal mishap or injury to his own skin
and bones. When Cradell escaped out of the house in Burton Crescent,
making his way through the passage into the outer air, he did so
because he feared that Lupex would beat him or kick him, or otherwise
ill-use him. John Eames would also have desired to escape under
similar circumstances; but he would have so desired because he could
not endure to be looked upon in his difficulties by the people