giving the lamb tenderly into my arms, and
halting upon his staff; speaking warily and weightily as I never heard
a man speak before or since. 'Nay; the lambkin must have fallen before
I came by. But I heard the mother bleat, and I knew, by the sound,
that she was in distress. Therefore I turned towards the crag upon
which she stood, and, looking down, I perceived the lamb fallen among
the brambles beneath a high ledge.'

'And went down over for her yourself and brought her up again! 'Twas
bravely done, Good Stranger,' I answered, and then, thinking to
encourage him, I said, 'Better you could not have done it, had you
been a shepherd yourself, for I see your hands are torn.'

'It is nothing,' he answered. 'A shepherd expects that.'

'Then are you a shepherd too, Master Stranger?' I asked, but he gave
no answer; only fastened his eyes upon me as we climbed together up
the hill. Wonderful eyes he had, not like to other men's; with a depth
and yet a light in them, as when the June sun shines back reflected
from the blackness of a mountain tarn. I saw them then, and still I
seem to see them, for when he looked at me, although he said no word,
it was as if he knew me apart from everyone else in the world, even as
I know every one of my master's sheep. I felt that he knew too how I
had been looking at that cot in the vale and dreaming idly, forgetful
of my lambs. Therefore, though he said no word of rebuke to me, I
felt my cheeks grow hot, and I hung my head and spake not. Only, when
we reached the top of the hill, he turned and answered me at last.
'Thou judgest right, friend,' he said, 'I was indeed a shepherd in my
young years. I am a shepherd even now, though as yet with full few
sheep. But, hereafter, it may be....'

I did not wait for the end of his sentence. Now that we were come to
level ground I was fain to show that I was not a careless, idle
shepherd in truth. My mind was set on Periwinkle's leg; broken, I
feared, for it hung down limply. I took her,--laid her on the grass
beside her dam while I fashioned a rough splint, shepherd-fashion, to
keep the leg steady till we reached the fold. Then, seeing the sun was
low by this time and nigh to setting over beyond the sea towards
Morecambe, I called my sheep and gathered them from all the fells,
near and far; and a fairer flock of sheep ye shall never see 'twixt
Scotland and Trent, as the song says, though I trow ye may, an ye look
carefully, find steeper hills than