this time they
were very badly frightened, and no wonder. When they saw the strange Dog
they were a little scared, for they thought he might chase them. If they
had made themselves stay there and act brave they would soon have felt
brave. Even if the Dog had been a cruel one, they could have kept him
from hurting them, for Sheep have been given very strong, hard foreheads
with which to strike, and the Bell-Wether had also long, curled horns
with three ridges on the side of each. But it is with Sheep as it is
with other people,--if they let themselves be frightened they grow more
and more fearful, even when there is no real danger and now all of their
trouble came from their not stopping to think what they ought to do.

They hurried up to the highest ground in the field, and when they were
there and could go no farther, they stopped and looked at each other.
One Lamb said to his mother, "Why did we come here? It isn't nearly so
nice as our own meadow."

"Why, I came because the Bell-Wether did," she answered. Then she turned
to the Bell-Wether and said, "Why did you bring us here?"

"I didn't bring you here," he replied. "I felt like coming, and I came.
I didn't make you follow."

"N-no," answered the Sheep; "but you might have known that if you came
the Sheep would come."

"Well," said the Bell-Wether, "you might have known that if you Sheep
came the Lambs would, so you'd better not say anything."

"Baa!" cried the Lambs. "We are hot and thirsty and there isn't any
water here to drink. We want to go back."

Everybody was out of patience with somebody else, and nobody was
comfortable. They did not dare try to go home again, for fear they would
have more trouble, so they huddled together on the top of the hill and
were very miserable and unhappy. They hadn't any good reason for coming,
and they could not even have told why they ran to the hilltop instead of
staying in the pleasant hollow below.

There was a reason for their running up, however, although
they didn't know it. It was because their
great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and-grandmother were
wild Sheep in the mountains, and when frightened ran up among the rocks
where there was nobody to hurt them. They got into the habit of running
up-hill when scared, and their children did the same, and their
children's children did the same, and now even the farmyard Sheep do so,
although they long ago forgot the reason why.

"Bow-wow-wow!" rang out on