His coat is thicker than that of most bears at this season of the year.
It will make a bonny rug for your father's office, Don. When the
camp-tender comes we will send it back by him to the home ranch.
Thornton can get it cured for you at Glen City and it will be a sightly
present for your father. You are a son worth having!"

"I want to be, Sandy."

"Dinna bother your head. I've seen full a dozen lads worse than you!"
was the grim reply.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII

A NARROW ESCAPE

It was not long before Donald felt almost as at home in the hill country
as did Sandy himself. They pitched camp and stayed in one place until
the grazing began to get scarce; then they "pulled up" and tramped on.
Sandy knew the region well and was therefore seldom at a loss to find
water-holes. During the night they watched the flock, and as soon as the
herd had fed in the morning and was ready to come to rest they left the
dogs on guard and slept. Donald usually slept soundly, for the fresh air
and exercise kept him in perfect health. Sandy, on the other hand,
slept with one eye open--or one ear open--the boy could never quite
decide which it was. But the result was the same; by some mysterious
means Sandy was always conscious of every move of his flock.

Donald never tired of watching the young Scotchman. What a picture he
was in his flannel blouse, open at the throat; his baggy trousers and
sheepskin belt; his sombrero with its band of Mexican leather; and the
field-glasses slung over his shoulder! From these glasses, his rifle,
and his crook he was seldom parted. His great knuckles, broad from the
grasp of his staff, were like iron; and his lithe, wiry body was never
weary. And yet with all his strength Sandy was the gentlest of men with
his sheep.

To his dogs he was a god! Still, with all their devotion, the collies
evidently understood that the sheep were their first care and they never
deserted their watch to accompany Sandy when he went on a hunt for
water-holes or more abundant feeding grounds. They were wonderfully
intelligent animals--these collies. Donald constantly marveled at their
cleverness. They were quick in singling out the slow or wayward sheep
and would bite their heels to hurry them along. They also recognized the
leaders and it was to them that they communicated the directions Sandy
gave them. Yet Sandy seldom spoke to his dogs. A motion of his arm and
they would spring forward and follow out his