ay, and in a little while we heard them "whishing" up
the sheep. George closed the gate, and we both waited until they came
up. There were a hundred and seventy-five sheep in the flock, and they
brought them up for the purpose of turning them into the vatches. Here
they would be knee-deep in rank vegetation, and the poor things, glad to
get to such juicy meat, would eat ravenously. The result of this would
be that they would get filled with wind and would swell horribly, and if
not immediately relieved would die a painful death. If the design
succeeded in this case I should be hundreds of pounds poorer before the
men would be at their work.

It may be imagined, therefore, that my blood was pretty hot, and that my
feelings toward the Tresidders were not those of a lover, and I will
leave it to any fair-minded man whether my anger was not reasonable.

As I said, George and I waited by the gate until they came up. The sheep
came close to the gate, as if waiting to be let in, and the two men
stood behind, not knowing, evidently, why the poor creatures did not go
to their death.

"What's the matter, Jacob?" asked young Nick Tresidder.

"Dunnaw, aw'm zure," answered Jacob, who was the eldest son of
Tresidder's "head man" and the worst rake in the parish. "Lev us go up
an' zee."

So they came up, as we expected they would.

"Why, the gaate es cloased and apsed!" cried Jacob. "The devil must 'a
'bin 'ere."

"Nonsense," said Nick, "you couldn't have opened it; you must have been
dreaming. There, open it."

"You tackle Nick Tresidder, an' I'll 'ave a go with Buddle," said George
to me, in a whisper; "he's allays a-braggin' as 'ow 'ee c'n bait me. Now
then, jump out!"

At this we both leaped forward. I took Nick Tresidder by the scruff of
the neck, while George gripped Buddle like a blacksmith's vice.

The sheep jumped away frightened, while these two blackguards cried out
as if the judgment day had come.

"Es et the devil?" asked Buddle.

"No," I roared out, "it isn't the devil; we're not related to you in any
way, and your master won't help you."

By this time they found out who we were, and began to wriggle finely.

"Look you, Nick Tresidder," I said; "the law will do nothing for us, so
we are going to take the law in our own hands."

"What do you want?" asked Tresidder.

"Nothing unfair," I said. "We are man to man. You are on my land, and
you were doing a trick worthy only of the devil, your master. We wil