MARY'S LITTLE LAMB 129 



call attention to their wants or to be noticed, the 

 lamb would be with them but would not cross the 

 threshold since the dogs were not permitted in the 

 rooms. Nor would she come to her mistress when 

 called, and having discovered that grass was her 

 proper food she wanted nothing that human 

 beings could give her. Not even a lump of sugar ! 

 She was no longer a pet lamb ; she was one of the 

 dogs. The dogs on their part, although much given 

 to quarrels and fights among themselves, never 

 growled or snapped at Libby ; she never tried to 

 snatch a bone from them, and she made them a 

 comfortable pillow when they slept and slumbered 

 for hours at a stretch. And Libby, just to be always 

 with them and to do exactly as they did, would 

 sleep too. Or rather she would lie stretched out 

 on the ground pretending to sleep, always with the 

 head of one of the dogs pillowed on her neck. Two 

 or three or four of the other dogs who had failed 

 to secure the pillow would lie round her with their 

 heads pressed against her fleece. They would form 

 a curiously amusing group. Then if a shrill whistle 

 was emitted by some one, or the cry of " Up and 

 at 'em," the lamb would spring like lightning to 

 her feet, throwing the drowsy dog off, and away 

 she would dash down the avenue to get outside the 

 plantation and find out what the trouble was. 

 Then the dogs, shaking off their sleep, would start 

 off and perhaps overtake her a couple of hundred 

 yards away. 



Most amusing of all the lamb's acting was when 



K 



