intelligence, as if he were the physician in the case. The
lamb was an old friend of his--just back from nature's laundry. The
newcomer, about a minute of age and not yet fully aware of itself,
raised its round white poll and looked forthwith a fixed gaze as
foolishly irresponsible as if it were a lamb that had just fallen off a
Christmas tree.

The man turned and strode away, leaving the dog on watch to mark the
place. Just below a water-hole near by was a place thickly covered
with dry marsh grass, all combed over by the wind and matted down like
a thatched roof, beneath which shelter opossums and rabbits ran about
in tunnels of their own making. To this place he went, and having
grabbed a handful of hay from the convenient mouth of a burrow, he
returned to the lamb, and kneeling down beside it he rubbed it into a
comfortable warmth and dryness. Not quite satisfied with the results
(there was a touch of chill in the air), he produced a white pocket
handkerchief which had not yet been unfolded, and he used this to
perfect the work.

This latter touch was more than a Texas lamb can reasonably expect; but
there were distant circumstances which prompted the act, and the
sentimental effects of these were much augmented by the fact that the
first and only lamb was disowned by its mother. She had given it a
cold-eyed look and walked away without even the formality of taking its
scent. As she was now back at her grazing again, it was plain to be
seen that she was going to give herself no further concern in the
matter; indeed, it was likely that when the lamb should come forward to
make his claims upon her, she would resent and oppose such intimacy,
sheep being different from other animals in this regard. The man felt,
naturally enough, that the first-born of such a host, and the
representative of so many idiots, mothered and motherless, who were
soon to arrive, deserved a better reception. The lamb spelled Duty as
plain as chalk; and so he rubbed away, with a look of weighty concern
which almost obliterated the smile with which he began. When the
fleece was perfectly dry and warm he stood up to await developments.

By this time the lamb, which had already tried to stand up, decided to
do it. It got part-way up and fell. Again it came up on its stilts,
wavered drunkenly and collapsed. It had made a mistake of some kind.
But the only way to learn walking is to do it; and a lamb, being more
ambitious than either