THIEVING DOGS AND HORSES 331 



would happen that the sheep gave more trouble than Millar 

 expected, and precious "time was lost, so dawn would 

 come while the farm was still many miles away. Then 

 he would make his way to the bank of the river, 

 which lay in an opposite direction, and leave his dog 

 Yarrow to "bring the sheep back to the ground belonging 

 to Murdieston, where they would be quite safe from 

 suspicion if any one passed by. 



A short distance from the river was an old square 

 ' tower, to which the farm-house had been afterwards 

 added, and under the tower was a large cellar, where the 

 stolen sheep were generally concealed. On Sunday morn- 

 ings, when everybody was off to church, the thieves busied 

 themselves with changing the marks that are always put 

 upon sheep, and replacing with their own those of the 

 real owner. During this operation Yarrow kept watch 

 outside, and never failed to give a warning bark when he 

 caught sight of a stranger on the road or on the hill. 



Of course Millar knew quite well that if he went on 

 keeping his robberies to one district he would certainly 

 end by being found out, and that before very long. So, 

 one night, he crossed the Tweed to a lonely farm in the 

 hills of Selkirk, where he managed to get hold of several 

 sheep, and prepared to drive them home. Now sheep 

 have a strange objection to coming down a hillside at 

 night, and still more to crossing a river ; so, when Millar, 

 after steering his flock with some difficulty round the 

 shoulder of Wallace's hill, tried to induce them to swim 

 a pool of the Tweed, the elder members of the party 

 became obstinate, and stubbornly refused to budge one 

 inch. It was to no purpose that Millar and Yarrow did 

 everything they could think of to force or persuade. 

 Across that river they would not go, and, to his despair, 

 Millar saw the day breaking over the east, and knew 

 that he must fly at once, if he did not wish his own neck 

 to be in danger. Yet he could not bear to give up his 

 booty just at the last, when he was hardly a quarter of a 



