Such a running and racing and bawling and puffing as there was before she was caught ! The fish-poles were left behind ; Toby was trotted nearly off his legs in the chase ; and every boy was red , breathless , and scared . They found poor Buttercup at last in a flower garden , where she had taken refuge , worn out with the long run . Borrowing a rope for a halter , Dan led her home , followed by a party of very sober young gentlemen , for the cow was in a sad state , having strained her shoulder jumping , so that she limped , her eyes looked wild , and her glossy coat was wet and muddy . `` You 'll catch it this time , Dan , '' said Tommy , as he led the wheezing donkey beside the maltreated cow . `` So will you , for you helped . '' `` We all did , but Demi , '' added Jack . `` He put it into our heads , '' said Ned . `` I told you not to do it , '' cried Demi , who was most broken-hearted at poor Buttercup 's state . `` Old Bhaer will send me off , I guess . Do n't care if he does , '' muttered Dan , looking worried in spite of his words . `` We 'll ask him not to , all of us , '' said Demi , and the others assented with the exception of Stuffy , who cherished the hope that all the punishment might fall on one guilty head . Dan only said , `` Do n't bother about me ; '' but he never forgot it , even though he led the lads astray again , as soon as the temptation came . When Mr. Bhaer saw the animal , and heard the story , he said very little , evidently fearing that he should say too much in the first moments of impatience . Buttercup was made comfortable in her stall , and the boys sent to their rooms till supper-time . This brief respite gave them time to think the matter over , to wonder what the penalty would be , and to try to imagine where Dan would be sent . He whistled briskly in his room , so that no one should think he cared a bit ; but while he waited to know his fate , the longing to stay grew stronger and stronger , the more he recalled the comfort and kindness he had known here , the hardship and neglect he had felt elsewhere . He knew they tried to help him , and at the bottom of his heart he was grateful , but his rough life had made him hard and careless , suspicious and wilful . He hated restraint of any sort , and fought against it like an untamed creature , even while he knew it was kindly meant , and dimly felt that he would be the better for it . He made up his mind to be turned adrift again , to knock about the city as he had done nearly all his life ; a prospect that made him knit his black brows , and look about the cosy little room with a wistful expression that would have touched a much harder heart than Mr. Bhaer 's if he had seen it .
It vanished instantly , however , when the good man came in , and said in his accustomed grave way , `` I have heard all about it , Dan , and though you have broken the rules again , I am going to give you one more trial , to please Mother XXXXX . ''
Bhaer Buttercup Dan Jack Stuffy Toby Tommy fall first fish-poles