and into this the cow pushed
her way, and stood quietly. The others passed on, followed some distance
in the rear by Fetch. He was panting from his exertions in the hot
evening, his tongue lolling from his mouth as he slowly and languidly
pursued his way.

Indeed he had quite discarded his usual vigilance, and the perverse cow
took advantage of it.

As the cows approached the barnyard gate, he quickened his pace, and
hurried forward, as if to say, "I'm here, attending to business." But
his complacency was disturbed as the cows filed through the gate. He
whined a little, and growled a little, attracting his master's
attention. Then he went to the high fence surrounding the yard, and
standing on his hindfeet peered between two of the rails. After looking
at the herd carefully for a time, he started off down the road again on
a full run. His master now observed that one of the cows was missing,
and he sat down on a rock to see what Fetch was going to do about it.
Before very long he heard the furious tinkling of a bell, and soon Fetch
appeared bringing in the perverse cow at a rapid pace, hastening her on
by frequently leaping up and catching her ear in his teeth. The gate was
again thrown open, and the cow, shaking her head from the pain of the
dog's rough reminders, was led through it in a way that she did not soon
forget. Fetch looked after her a moment with the air of one remarking to
himself, "You'll not try that trick again," and then he lay down quietly
to cool off in time for supper.

XII.--A CLEVER SHEEP DOG.

A recent English writer tells the following story of an ingenious
sheep-dog that, when the flock took a wrong road, would turn them back
without worrying them. His owner had hesitated for some time before he
made up his mind to have a dog, as he had often seen dogs ill-use the
poor sheep. But believing that in most cases the dogs' harshness toward
the sheep was due to bad training, and not to their naturally evil
dispositions, he resolved to make trial of one. The dog he procured was
young; and he trained it after his own ideas. He soon found the docile
creature a very useful helper in driving a flock from one pasture to
another. The sheep often took a wrong turn, and then scampered off as
fast as they could go. At such times, most shepherds who had dogs were
accustomed to send the dog after the flock, at the top of its speed. Of
course, it soon overtook them, but the sheep were often much frightened,