COLLIES, OR SHEEP DOGS 269 



master in the matter of catching sheep, and off he started, 

 while Hogg and his helper passed the night in seeking 

 for traces of the lambs, which could not be found, go 

 where they would. At last, when the sun rose, they gave 

 up the chase and returned to the farmer who owned the 

 flock, to tell him of the loss of his sheep, a thing which bad 

 never occurred to Hogg before, all the years of his life as a 

 shepherd, neither had he ever heard of it happening to 

 anyone else. On their way back from this unpleasant 

 errand they had to pass a deep hollow or ' clench,' as it is 

 called in Scotland, and there, safe at the bottom, were 

 the whole flock of lambs, with Sirrah standing over 

 them. Hogg could not believe his eyes, and at first 

 thought it must be only one of the divisions of the lambs 

 — though even for that he was grateful enough ; but 

 when he came to count them there was not one missing. 

 How Sirrah had managed to collect them nobody knew, 

 and of course nobody ever did know ! 



When Sirrah died, he left a son called Hector, to take 

 up his duties. Hector, though not nearly so clever as his 

 father, was a more lively companion ; full of whims and 

 freaks, but much attached to his master. 



One day in August, Hogg was sent by his master to 

 a farm at the head of the river Ettrick, to bring back 

 some black-faced lambs, inter ded for next morning's 

 market. Hogg set out, accompanied, of course, by Hector. 

 For some reason or other the lambs were not brought 

 down from the hills till quite late, and the shepherd did 

 not feel at all comfortable at the thought that he would 

 have to drive them the greater part of the way in utter 

 darkness. What was worse, he knew that the lam lis, 

 which had only just been parted from their mothers, would 

 be very unruly. However, there was no help for it, the 

 start must be made, and though everything turned out 

 exactly as he had imagined, witli the aid of Hector all the 

 lambs were at last safely housed in the fold, and both 

 man and dog were nearly worn out. 



