第16章

No man could do that.It fell in the tree when it came down.""Oh--exactly."

"Certainly.I unwound the lariat, and fastened one end of it to the limb.It was the very best green raw-hide, and capable of sustaining tons.I made a slip-noose in the other end, and then hung it down to see the length.It reached down twenty-two feet--half way to the ground.

I then loaded every barrel of the Allen with a double charge.I felt satisfied.I said to myself, if he never thinks of that one thing that Idread, all right--but if he does, all right anyhow--I am fixed for him.

But don't you know that the very thing a man dreads is the thing that always happens? Indeed it is so.I watched the bull, now, with anxiety --anxiety which no one can conceive of who has not been in such a situation and felt that at any moment death might come.Presently a thought came into the bull's eye.I knew it! said I--if my nerve fails now, I am lost.Sure enough, it was just as I had dreaded, he started in to climb the tree----""What, the bull?"

"Of course--who else?"

"But a bull can't climb a tree."

"He can't, can't he? Since you know so much about it, did you ever see a bull try?""No! I never dreamt of such a thing."

"Well, then, what is the use of your talking that way, then? Because you never saw a thing done, is that any reason why it can't be done?""Well, all right--go on.What did you do?""The bull started up, and got along well for about ten feet, then slipped and slid back.I breathed easier.He tried it again--got up a little higher--slipped again.But he came at it once more, and this time he was careful.He got gradually higher and higher, and my spirits went down more and more.Up he came--an inch at a time--with his eyes hot, and his tongue hanging out.Higher and higher--hitched his foot over the stump of a limb, and looked up, as much as to say, 'You are my meat, friend.'

Up again--higher and higher, and getting more excited the closer he got.

He was within ten feet of me! I took a long breath,--and then said I, 'It is now or never.' I had the coil of the lariat all ready; I paid it out slowly, till it hung right over his head; all of a sudden I let go of the slack, and the slipnoose fell fairly round his neck! Quicker than lightning I out with the Allen and let him have it in the face.It was an awful roar, and must have scared the bull out of his senses.When the smoke cleared away, there he was, dangling in the air, twenty foot from the ground, and going out of one convulsion into another faster than you could count! I didn't stop to count, anyhow--I shinned down the tree and shot for home.""Bemis, is all that true, just as you have stated it?""I wish I may rot in my tracks and die the death of a dog if it isn't.""Well, we can't refuse to believe it, and we don't.But if there were some proofs----""Proofs! Did I bring back my lariat?"

"No."

"Did I bring back my horse?"

"No."

"Did you ever see the bull again?"

"No."