CHAPTER XXVI.
THE BOOMER AND THE BULL.
For the moment it looked as if Pawnee Brown meant to let the mad bull gore him to pieces.
On and on came the beast until less than two yards separated him and the great scout.
Crack! came the report of the boomer's pistol, and the bull fell back a pace, clipped between the horns. A lucky swerve downward had saved him from a bullet wound through the eye.
There was no time for another shot. With a bellow the bull leaped the intervening space and landed almost on top of Pawnee Brown!
A yell went up from those who saw the movement.
"Pawnee is done fur. The bull will rip him inside out."
"Buckley ought to have killed that bull long ago—that's the second time he's gone on a rampage."
"Somebody shoot him and save Pawnee!"
The last was a well meant cry, but a shot could not be thought of, for man and beast were too close together.
(211)
