up in the outhouse till next morning. Only one 

 responded — old George ; the other could not be 

 found, either in the house, lane, or garden. 

 Gabriel then remembered that he had left the two 

 dogs on the hill eating a dead lamb (a kind of 

 meat he usually kept from them, except when 

 other food ran short), and concluding that the 

 young one had not finished his meal, he went 

 indoors to the luxury of a bed, which latterly he 

 had only enjoyed on Sundays. 



It was a still, moist night. Just before dawn 

 he was assisted in waking by the abnormal 

 reverberation of familiar music. To the shepherd, 

 the note of the sheepbell, like the ticking of the 

 clock to other people, is a chronic sound that only 

 makes itself noticed by ceasing or altering in some 

 unusual manner from the well-known idle tinkle 

 which signifies to the accustomed ear, however 

 distant, that all is well in the fold. In the solemn 

 calm of the awakening morn that note was heard 

 by Gabriel, beating with unusual violence and 

 rapidity. This exceptional ringing may be caused 

 in two ways — by the rapid feeding of the sheep 

 bearing the bell, as when the flock breaks into new 

 pasture, which gives it an intermittent rapidity, or 

 by the sheep starting off in a run, when the sound 

 has a regular palpitation. The experienced ear of 

 Oak knew the sound he now heard to be caused 

 by the running of the flock with great velocity. 



195 



