e lost their thick, warm coats; it makes them more chilly than ever.
Then, too, they sometimes get small cuts while they are being sheared
and the lime and sulphur makes the bruises smart. I am always sorry for
the beasties. Yet after all I comfort myself with thinking that it is
better they should be wretched for a little while than to be sick for a
long while. It is like sitting in a dark room when you have the
measles--you do not like it but you know you will be worse off if you
don't do it."

Sandy laughed and so did Donald.

"Then it will be several days before you start for the range, Sandy."

"Yes. I must wait for Thornton. I can't leave your father here alone. He
might want me."

"You have been a great help to my father, Sandy."

"It's little enough I've done. I would do a good sight more if the need
came. A McCulloch would do anything in his power for Crescent Ranch or
its owners."

"I believe you, Sandy."

"You do well to believe me, lad, for I speak the living truth!"

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV

SANDY GIVES DONALD A LESSON

During the next few days preparations for the range went steadily
forward.

Most of the herders had been so long at Crescent Ranch that they knew
exactly what to do. It was an ancient story to men who had worked under
Old Angus and Johnson.

To Donald, however, everything was new. From morning to night he trotted
after Sandy until one day the young Scotchman remarked with a
mischievous smile:

"You put me verra much in mind of one of my collies--I declare if you
don't!"

The boy chuckled.

"It is all so different from anything I ever saw before, Sandy. I am
finding out so many things! Why, until yesterday I thought sheep were
just sheep--all of them the same kind. Father mentioned Merinos, and I
supposed they were all Merinos."

"Well! Well! And so you have found out that they are not all the same
kind? How many kinds have you learned about, pray?"

Donald took Sandy's banter in good part.

"You needn't laugh, Sandy," he said. "Lots and lots of our sheep are
Merinos, aren't they?"

"Aye, laddie. Merinos are a good sheep for wool-growing. They are no so
bonny--having a wrinkled skin and wool on their faces; they are small,
too. But their coat is fine and long, and they are kindly. The American
Merinos are the best range sheep we have, because they are so hardy and
stay together so well. Some sheep scatter. It seems to be in their blood
to wander about.