limp mass which he dropped at the lad's feet.

The boy struck a match and turned the creature over with his foot.

It was a coyote!

Then how glad he was that he had not left his post!

At dawn Sandy came to relieve him. The herder glanced first at the dead
coyote, then at some faint tracks in the moist earth.

"You have interrupted a midnight orgy, Don," he declared at last,
rubbing his hands together as he always did when anything pleased him
very much. "Here are the marks of at least four coyotes that were
stealing down on the flock when you fired. You got this one, and
evidently drove off the others. I wish we had had as good luck on our
side of the fold. In spite of his watchfulness Bernardo lost two lambs.
He is one of our best herders, too, and he is sore about it. You have
done a good night's work, lad. I am proud of my pupil!"

And as Donald heard Sandy's words his lips parted in a smile and he felt
he would have patrolled a line twice as long to have earned the young
Scotchman's praise.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X

A PREDICTION THAT CAME TRUE

When the lambs were three weeks old Sandy decided to break camp, leave
the fenced lambing-pasture, and push on to higher ground.

"The sun is getting hot and we must have cooler quarters," he explained.
"By nature sheep seek elevated ground, you know, and their health is
better there. Now that their fleeces are getting so much thicker the
poor beasts are too warm in the low places. What is more, they need the
exercise of climbing. Grass, too, is becoming scant and we must not eat
it down too close."

Mr. Clark agreed.

Therefore a clear July morning saw the vast herd winding its way up the
steep incline of the mountainside. Sandy went on ahead, guiding the
flock to the best pasturage and the freshest water-holes. The lambs
trotted at their mother's sides or frisked after them with the
playfulness of kittens. When a plentiful water supply and rich grass was
found Sandy often delayed the upward march a week or more, that the
flock might make the most of the lush herbage. When feed was meager
there were days of scrambling up rocky stretches, and nights of
patrolling the fold. Then more days of climbing would follow. Sometimes
a scarcity of water forced them to press on against their will.

They had now reached a high elevation, but the warmth of the July
weather rendered the coolness welcome. The sheep gladly sought out the
forest shade or, when the