Show 7 FAA us rags to the rescue by FLOYD GIBBONS chavent Yh OU know boys and girls sometimes I 1 wonder if dogs avent a got as brains many as most humans s and this is one ot of the days I 1 feel that way about it its it s an adventure story V that at called the question to mind f from r my a yarn mary sorg borgot of bronx N Y mary has a collie name named dRags rags and U rags the einstein ot of the dog world nl ill cat his leash and muzzle and without catsup the adventure happened to mary in the summer of 1934 but the beginning of the story goes back a lot farther than that it goes back several years to a farm out on long island near jericho 1 where marys uncle raises couie collie dogs mary was out there one spring when one of the dogs had a utter litter of pups they were fine healthy pups all but one ot of them that one odd puppy was streaked and spotted with just about all the colors youre ever likely to find on a dog he looked like something the cat brought in says mary and my uncle was going to have it destroyed but I 1 begged him to give it to me instead and he did ugly pup goes a strolling with his benefactor so mary saved that pups life lie and she lived to be mighty darned glad ot of it for the pup grew up and one day he returned the compliment one day in the summer of 1934 mary went back to her uncles farm arm in m jericho for a visit she took rags bags along with her and that turned out to be not such a bad idea either it was just a few days after she had arrived at the farm that mary set out on a fateful walk across the fields she was going to call on another girl who lived on a nearby farm arm and she took rags along for company on the way mary blary crossed one field and came to another that was surrounded by a barbed wire fence she climbed through the fence and rags scuttled through beneath it ile he ran on ahead while mary blary continued to make her way slowly across the meadow she had gone maybe twenty feet and rags bags was way ay over on the other side of the field when suddenly s she he heard a gru grumbling m bl in g s snorting nor ting sound behind her mary turned let out a loud scream behind her just a few feet away was a huge bull pawing the ground and getting ready to charge maddened bull gores defenseless girl mary had on a red blouse and a red cloth cap that day some folks folk say that anything red makes a bull road mad others say he can get just as ai rags was drawing the bull away from his bis mistress mad at green or any other bright color anyway the bull was coming after mary and mary lost her head she started to run tor for the fence though she knew shed never make it pounding hoofs thundered along behind her she could feel the beasts hot breath on her back and she screamed again one of her flying feet stumbled over something on the ground she tripped and fell headlong in a split second the bull was on her mary could feel sharp horns digging into her sides the bull rolled her over and gored her in the chest she screamed with pain and waited for the end it would only be a second or two before those pointed horns came down again canine toreador Tore odor begins to torment the bull but that moment never came As mary waited with tight shut eyes for the death blow she heard the big brutes hoofs po pounding anding away down the field wondering she opened her eyes on the strangest sight anyone ever saw half way to the other end of the field were the bull and rags rag gs rags had marys red cap in his mouth and like a canine matador was drawing the bull away from his mistress each time the bull lunged at him rags would leap ni nimbly bly to one side that happened twice thrice and then rags dropping the cap snapped at the huge beast and caught him by the nose with a toss of his bis head the bull shook rags off meanwhile mary was getting to her feet my chest ached so that I 1 could hardly move she says 1 I started to run toward the fence but the minute the bull saw me moving he turned and made tor for roe me again rags bags bit him on the flank to take his attention from me ra rags sl strategy succeeds in saving marys lite life how long that strange battle went on mary know she sort ol of went out ot of her mind about that time w what h at wi with th the pain and the anxiety the next thing she remembers is reaching the fence a and nd climbing over it to safety just as her uncle and another man came running to her rescue then she thought of rags again and turned to see how he was faring rags doing so well he was crawling across the field just barely able to move he dragged himself up to the fence and collapsed in a heap while the bull bleeding at the nose and blind from rate rage snorted and pawed at the ground a dozen yards away tenderly marys uncle lifted rags over the fence and carried him home in his arms they had the doctors in for both rags a and nd mary the bull had broken three of marys mary s ribs and rags had bad a a broken leg and a nasty wound in his side where a slashing horn hom had caught it and tore it open but they set rags leg and patched up his side and now mary says hes he s as good a dog as he was before awu service |