ail, a stone. Though he did not know it, the last sheep to leave had
kicked it down upon him purely by accident.

Snowball gave a _baa_ of surprise and relief. With a little effort he
managed to jerk his tail from under the stone. Then he sprang to his
feet. And since there was no knowing where the bear was, Snowball made
all haste to get on the other side of the stone wall and join the flock
of sheep once more.

When Aunt Nancy saw him she did not act half as pleased as he had
expected she would.

"You got us into a pickle, young man!" she greeted him.

"It seems to me," he replied, "that you are the one that made all the
trouble. If you hadn't made me jump the wall----"

"If _I_ hadn't made _you_----" Aunt Nancy interrupted. And turning to
her companions she cried, "Did you ever hear anything like that in all
your days?"

And everybody said, "No!"

And then somebody asked, "Where's the bear?"

But nobody could answer that question.

The only one that could have answered it was Cuffy Bear himself. And he
was way up under the mountain--and still running.

There wasn't a sheep in the flock that had been more frightened than
he.

XVIII

THE SWING

As Snowball grew older he began to enjoy a fine, new sport. At least
this sport was new to him. All the old rams had enjoyed it for years.
But it was not until Snowball's horns began to grow that he became
interested in having fun in this way.

The new sport was _butting_. Snowball was careful not to butt any sheep
that were much bigger than he was. For instance, he never even
threatened to butt the black lamb, who was some months the older of the
two. And Snowball didn't butt Johnnie Green; for Snowball was fond of
him.

Snowball didn't feel the same toward other boys. Other boys liked to
tease him. A neighbor's boy called "Red" was the biggest tease of them
all. He never missed a chance to bother Snowball--unless Johnnie Green
objected.

So it was only to be expected that Snowball should want to butt Red.
More than once he had stolen up behind Red and butted him as hard as he
could butt.

At first Red only laughed. But as Snowball grew bigger--and heavier--Red
no longer found anything to laugh at in Snowball's favorite sport.
Instead of laughing, Red was more likely to go to rubbing himself where
Snowball had struck him.

"You'll have to get rid of this pet of yours!" Red said to Johnnie
Green. "That is, you'll have to if you expect me to come