"No?" She laughed a little. "What must I be, then? I'm alive, I'm
crawling with terror. Don't touch me!" She screamed and drew back.
"I can explain it."
"You can explain everything! But not that."
"It was an idiotic, wild, unfair thing to have happen at this time," he
said. "My life's like that." He looked beyond her. "I began wanting to
do tremendous things. The more I tried, the more discouraged I became.
You see, I was strong. There have been other things figuratively like
the bull. But the things themselves get littler and more preposterous,
because my ambition and my nerve grows smaller." He lowered his head.
"Some day--I shan't want to do anything at all any more. Continuous and
unwonted defeat might infuriate some men to a great effort. It's tiring
me." He raised his eyes sadly to hers. "Roseanne--!"
She gathered her legs under herself and ran. Hugo made no attempt to
follow her. He merely watched. Twice she tripped and once she fell. At
the stone wall she looked back at him. It was not necessary to be able
to see her expression. She went on across the fields--a skinny, flapping
thing--at last a mere spot of moving colour.
Hugo turned and stared at the brown mound of the bull. After a moment he
walked over and stood above it. Its tongue hung out and its mouth
grinned. It lay there dead, and yet to Hugo it still had life: the
indestructibility of a ghost and the immortality of a symbol. He sat
beside it until sundown.
At twilight he entered the barn and tended the cows. The doors of the
house were closed. He went without supper. Cane returned jubilantly
later in the evening. He called Hugo from the back porch.
"Telegram for you."
Hugo read the wire. His father was sick and failing rapidly. "I want my
wages," he said. Then he went back to the barn. His trifling belongings
were already wrapped in a bundle. Cane reluctantly counted out the
money. Hugo felt nauseated and feverish. He put the money in his pocket,
the bundle under his arm; he opened the gate, and his feet found the
soft earth of the road in the darkness.