52 THE SHEEP AND HER LAMB. 



the brook. At first we regarded her with a careless 

 eye : but^ on a repetition of the same actions, bleating 

 still louder, and again running towards the water, 

 showing an anxiety for us to follow her, by repeat- 

 edly looking behind her till she reached the brook, 

 where she stood still, she excited more notice; and 

 having watched her for some minutes, without being 

 able to account for her behaviour, we continued our 

 walk, and had nearly reached the gate that led 

 into the next field, when she came running after 

 us the third time, and seemed yet more earnest, 

 if possible, than before. We then determined to' 

 follow her, in order to discover the cause of her 

 uneasiness. As soon as we turned towards the ri- 

 vulet, she ran with all her speed, looking frequent- 

 ly behind her. When we reached the brink of the 

 stream, she peeped over the edge of a hillock into 

 the water ; looked up in our faces, as if to solicit our 

 commiseration ; and bleated with the most significant 

 voice I ever heard from one of those creatures we call 

 dumb. Judge of our surprise when, on looking over 

 the brink, we perceived her lamb standing close under 

 the hillock, with the water nearly over its back. Ra- 

 chel ran to the farm-house for help, whilst I staid by 

 the anxious mother to assure her of our assistance. 

 The lamb was presently rescued from its dangerous 

 situation, when its fond dam began to lick and suckle 



