Incident in San Francisco

Laura felt a little more trepidation at the idea of facing the bull in the open than she had at just adjusting gates, but she didn't let Monty see that and said confidently, "I can handle that. I stand by the pen gate, when this bull gets near, I swing it open and latch it, then swing it shut again when he's in. Right?"

"Right!" replied Monty. "Thanks for doing this, Laura. You're really a big help."

While Monty trotted to his trailer to get his stock whip, Laura went back to the pen with the original three bulls and checked that gate latch to be sure she could open it quickly when the time came. Despite Monty's reassurance about the bulls' disposition, she had to admit to herself that she was a little nervous about the thought of that huge black bull who would be coming straight towards her shortly. She checked the pipe corral walls and judged how quickly she could scramble up to safety on the top rail if something went wrong. She couldn't help thinking of the way the bucking bulls in the rodeo last night had charged around the arena scattering clowns and riders, and how she had seen a couple of bull riders tossed in the air by the bull's horns.

But all went smoothly. Monty opened the gate where the single bull waited, and by cracking the tasseled end of the 6-foot stock whip in the air behind the bull, herded him out of that pen. The bull trotted slowly down the passage way, Laura swung her gate open at the last moment and he turned into the pen with the other three, docile as a lamb. Laura slammed the gate closed and latched it, and they walked together to the fifth bull Monty had found, repeating the process.

The end of one of the runways had been modified with a shallow trench at the point where trailer wheels would hit. When Monty hooked on his trailer and backed it up to mate with the opening between the pens, the wheels dropped in to that depression so that the floor of the trailer was only a few inches off the ground. Monty unlatched the double doors on the trailer and swung them to either side so that they completely blocked the sides of the passage way. When he and his new assistant went back to the pen holding the five bulls, it was only a moments work to open the gate. Laura stayed behind the gate, as she still didn't trust the bulls enough to go among them the way Monty did. Once they started down the passageway toward the beckoning trailer, though, she followed a few steps behind Monty as he snapped the whip and urged the bulls forward with "Ho, bulls, get along there." Since they had all been hauled to the Grand National in similar trailers, and may have had similar experiences previously, they showed no inclination to turn back, but shuffled forward into the dark maw of the trailer, and Monty slammed the doors behind the last one.