upon the topmost rail, and, holding it there with one
hand, climbed over. He had now to cross the stable lot. Midway of this,
he passed a rick of hay. Huddled under the sheltered side were the
sheep of the farm, several in number and of the common sort. At the
sight of him, they always bleated familiarly, but this evening their
long, quavering, gray notes were more penetrating, more insistent than
usual. These sensitive, gentle creatures, whose instincts represent the
accumulating and inherited experiences of age upon age of direct
contact with nature, run far ahead of us in our forecasting wisdom; and
many a time they utter their disquietude and warning in language that
is understood only by themselves. The scant flock now fell into the
wake of David, their voices blending in a chorus of meek elegiacs,
their fore feet crowding close upon his heels. The dog, yielding his
place, fell into their wake, as though covering the rear; and so this
little procession of friends moved in a close body toward the barn.

David put his hemp in the saddle-house; a separate hemp-house they were
not rich enough to own. He had chosen this particular part of the barn
because it was dryest in roof and floor. Several bales of hemp were
already piled against the logs on one side; and besides these, the room
contained the harness, the cart and the wagon gear, the box of tar, his
maul and wedges, his saddle and bridle, and sundry implements used in
the garden or on the farm. It was almost dark in there now, and he
groped his way.

The small estate of his father, comprising only some fifty or sixty
acres, supported little live stock: the sheep just mentioned, a few
horses, several head of cattle, a sow and pigs. Every soul of these
inside or outside the barn that evening had been waiting for David.
They had begun to think of him and call for him long before he had quit
work in the field. Now, although it was not much later than usual, the
heavy cloud made it appear so; and all these creatures, like ourselves,
are deceived by appearances and suffer greatly from imagination. They
now believed that it was far past the customary time for him to appear,
that they were nearing the verge of starvation; and so they were
bewailing in a dejected way his unaccountable absence and their
miserable lot--with no one to listen.

Scarcely had the rattling of the iron latch of the saddle-house
apprised them of his arrival before every dumb brute--dumb, as dumb