(_For the benefit of Bolton._)
Two bellicose goats once encountered each other in the middle of a
narrow bridge spanning a deep gulf and a raging torrent. To pass each
other seemed (to them) impossible, at least without much more careful
and courteous mutual self-adjustment than either was at all disposed
for. For one or the other to make way by temporarily backing, was, of
course--to bellicose goats--entirely out of the question. The only
alternative was clearly a butting-match.
[Illustration]
Our angry goats entered upon it with great gusto. Heads hotly
encountered, horns angrily collided. The harder the hits the less did
either feel disposed to give way.
But a narrow bridge over a deep gulf is a bad place for a battle _a
outrance_. The infuriated animals quickly settled the point at issue, in
a way as final as unpleasant, by butting each other over into the gulf,
leaving the disputed path clear for the passage of creatures more
conciliatory and less cantankerous.