Harriet did not pause again. This was her last chance to get the bulls away from the trees that held her companions. Their safety depended upon her doing so. She was determined to succeed, even at the imminent risk of losing her own safety. The animals did not seem to be gaining on her, but all at once they put on a great burst of speed. Harriet darted sideways, then straight ahead again. This time she leaped out into the open, flaunting the skirt, tantalizing the ugly beasts, resorting to every artifice she could think of to take their attention from Miss Elting and the other girls.

Harriet succeeded beyond her expectations. She also succeeded in enraging the beasts far more than she had hoped to do.

Now they were getting too close for safety, so Harriet darted in among the trees, followed by the three savage, bellowing bulls. She grasped the first low-hanging limb that she came to, and swung herself up into a tree. A pair of sharp horns caught the end of the skirt, rending it nearly to the waist. Harriet clung desperately to the skirt. She did not propose to lose it if she could help doing so. Jerking the skirt away she climbed higher and, bracing herself, gazed down triumphantly.

"That's the time I fooled you, didn't I?" she taunted. Leaning forward the girl waved the skirt. She reached down far enough to flaunt the skirt full in the face of the nearest animal. He bellowed his rage and pawed the dirt. She continued to aggravate him. If she could only keep them all there until her companions reached the highway!

"Hoo-e-e-e-e!" sounded the distant, long-drawn call of the Meadow-Brook Girls.

"Oh, they're safe!" cried Harriet joyfully. For a moment she closed her eyes and clung panting to the trunk of the tree. After resting a few moments she cautiously drew on her skirt and fastened it, three pairs of red, evil eyes observing her threateningly. Then she climbed to the topmost branches of the apple tree, hoping to get high enough to obtain a glimpse of her companions.

"I might have known that a tree with such low boughs would not be high enough for that," she muttered. "But I'll call."

Listening she heard the "Hoo-e-e-e!" of Miss Elting again.

"Hoo-e-e-e-e-e-e! Hoo-e-e-e-e!" answered Harriet Burrell.

In response the others began shouting. The bulls did not appear to be interested. One of them lay down.

"My goodness! I do hope they aren't going to stay here the rest of the day," cried Harriet. "I don't know what I shall do in that event."

She now tried Tommy's plan and began pelting the animal that had lain down with apples. It took very little of this sort of treatment to bring the beast to his feet. He leaped up with a bellow and began pawing up the dirt, sending showers of it over his companions.

Harriet chuckled.

"Now, if only Miss Elting will attract their attention. I think I had better try to hide myself and keep quiet." This she did. She could hear the shouts and yells of her companions. They were setting up a great racket off there in the road, doing their utmost to draw the attention of the animals away from Harriet.

After fully five minutes of this one of the bulls walked off with his head in the air. He stood a moment with head still erect, gazing off toward the highway. Suddenly he started on a run. The other two bulls followed him with their gaze for a few moments, then they, too, started away at a moderate trot.

"The plan has worked! It has worked!" cried Harriet in triumph, under her breath. "Oh, I do hope they get far enough away. I must crawl down so as to be ready for my big spring. This is almost equal to a Spanish bull fight, except that I haven't any barbs to stick into them."

The girl crept cautiously to the ground. She stood at the foot of the tree, shielding her body by its trunk, peering around the tree at the running bulls. They were headed straight toward the road fence, traveling more rapidly now.

In order to reach the fence at the side of the field, Harriet would be obliged to go out into the open, where, if the animals turned, she would be sure to be discovered.

A cry from her companions told her that the time for action on her part had arrived. Without an instant's hesitation Harriet Burrell started for a fence which stood to the eastward of her place of refuge. A few moments later she had cleared the orchard and reached the open field.

She saw the three bulls pawing the ground by the roadside fence in the distance. Her companions were standing in the middle of the road waving their skirts at the animals, not daring to get close to the fence.

"Run! Run, Harriet!" screamed Miss Elting.

As though they had understood the meaning of the guardian's warning, the bulls wheeled sharply. They saw the fleeing figure of the Meadow-Brook Girl and, leaving Miss Elting and her party, charged straight across the field towards Harriet, while the latter was still some distance from the fence towards which she was running.

"Run! Oh, run!" came the voice of Miss Elting in a terrified wail.

"Run!"

Suddenly, Harriet, who had turned to glance over her shoulder to measure the distance between herself and her pursuers, stumbled and plunged headfirst into a little depression in the ground.

A scream rose from her horrified companions.

CHAPTER XV-A RACE FOR LIFE

"She'll be killed!" wailed Hazel, covering her eyes to shut out the sight.

"Thave her!" screamed Tommy. The little girl sprang forward, scrambled over the fence and, had she, too, not fallen would have dashed down the field to Harriet Burrell's a.s.sistance, utterly regardless of her own peril. The guardian climbed over the fence and had placed a firm grip on the little girl before the latter could get to her feet. Miss Elting fairly dragged Tommy back to the fence and a.s.sisted her over.

"She's up again!" cried Hazel. "Oh, hurry, hurry!" Her voice rose to a piercing wail.

Harriet had gotten to her feet. She cast one frightened look over her shoulder, then continued to run towards the fence. They saw that she limped a little. Nor was the girl running as fast as before her fall.

The three bulls had gained considerably during the few seconds that Harriet had been down. They were now charging with lowered heads, bunched closely together, this time as though determined that their victim should not escape them.

Just ahead of her, Harriet had seen a ditch, deep and broad, made for the purpose of draining the land. Instantly a plan formed in her active mind. She could not hope to win the race for life by running straight ahead now that the beasts had gained so much on her.

"She's tiring! They'll get her!" moaned Hazel.

"Why didn't you let me go?" screamed Tommy, beside herself with anxiety.

The guardian did not answer. Her eyes, wide and staring, were following every movement of the fleeing girl and the pursuing bulls.

Harriet stopped short, bending over in a crouching position.

"She's going to try to trick them! Oh, what courage!" breathed Miss Elting.

"Look! Thee her now!" shouted Tommy, with a note of triumph in her strained voice.

The animals were fairly upon Harriet. When it seemed as though their horns were touching her, the girl leaped obliquely into the ditch. They saw her run, splashing along in it for a few rods, then spring to the bank on the same side from which she had jumped in.

The watchers saw something else too. The bulls, so intent upon reaching their victim, had taken no notice of the ditch. Perhaps they had been charging with closed eyes, as many bulls do. At any rate the leading beast flung himself headlong into the ditch. The others braced themselves with their front feet and went sliding into the ditch on top of their leader, digging furrows with their hoofs in the soft dirt.

Harriet Burrell's ruse had been successful. She spoke no word, but a glint of triumph flashed into her eyes as she cast a quick glance at the floundering animals, then ran straight toward her companions. This time there was no limping, no lessening of speed. She had covered less than half the distance before two of the animals that had slid into the ditch had recovered themselves and began looking about for the prey that had eluded them.

The slender figure of the Meadow-Brook girl, they soon discovered, was racing across the field. The two bulls clambered out of the ditch and charged again. Now that they were in the open field it was a race that would go to the fleetest. No tricks would avail Harriet this time. She knew that her safety depended on outrunning her pursuers. Had Harriet not been an athletic girl she would have succ.u.mbed long before. As it was she ran at a wonderful rate of speed. The shouts of her companions, though heard but faintly, encouraged her, for Harriet's mind was on her work.

The ruse practiced by Harriet had given her the lead in the race. Miss Elting, however, saw that the bulls were gaining on the plucky girl.

"Girls," she said sharply, "remain where you are." With that she climbed to the top of the fence and leaped over into the field. It was her idea that even though Harriet did succeed in reaching the fence, the girl might not have sufficient vitality left to enable her to climb over it.

Harriet, as she drew near, discovered the guardian on her side of the fence and divined the latter's purpose. The girl motioned for Miss Elting to get back. The guardian shook her head and remained where she was.

"Go back! Go back! I'm all right," cried Harriet breathlessly.

The bulls were gaining rapidly. They were now but a few rods behind Harriet Burrell. She put on more speed after one last look over her shoulder while Tommy and Hazel were shouting their encouragement.

"You will be caught. Quick!" gasped Harriet, as she drew rapidly near to the guardian. "Oh, please hurry back to the road!"

Miss Elting did not move. Harriet dashed up beside her and stopped short. Miss Elting grasped the girl's arm. Harriet pulled herself free.