Bart and Fenn took after him.
"Come on; we've got to catch him!" cried Frank, and he and Ned set off
after their companions.
All at once there arose a shouting from the boys in the lead. Then
sounded a crash in the bushes. It was followed by a series of discordant
brays from the donkey.
"Something has happened!" cried Frank. "Hurry up!"
Something had happened, sure enough. The donkey had caught himself. For,
in trying to pass between two saplings, the ladder had slewed cross-ways
and had brought the beast up with a round turn. Surprised and, perhaps
somewhat indignant at the sudden stopping of his run, the donkey
struggled on. The ladder slipped up the small trunks of the saplings and
they began to bend.
"He'll break 'em off and escape again!" cried Ned. "Grab him Bart!"
Further and further over bent the two saplings. The ladder was sliding up
them. Then the donkey slipped. He lost his foot-hold in the mud and the
next instant a curious thing happened.
The saplings, being no longer strained forward by the animal, sprang
upward. The ladder began to slip back. It went until it caught on some
branches of either small tree and there it stayed, But the donkey was
fairly lifted from his feet, for the ladder was still fastened to his
back, and there he hung, his hoofs threshing about and his brays coming
quickly in indignant protest at the treatment accorded him.
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