264 Poachers and Poaching. 



Snow-lines are sketched along the fences 

 of the fells, but this is all that remains. 

 Everything out of doors testifies to the 

 coming of spring, and -green grass-shoots are 

 everywhere. The foaming fell " becks " sparkle 

 in the sun, and the sheep are sprinkled over the 

 crags. A breadth of blue is overhead, and the 

 feeding flock is steadily turned towards the sky- 

 line. This is the first token of the short summer, 

 and all the sheep on all the hills rejoice. It is at 

 this season that the shepherds most keenly scan 

 their flocks and note the ravages of winter. By 

 the torrent side, by the leas of the boulders, 

 along the rock ledges everywhere is dotted a 

 white fleece. 



It was upon such an occasion, the snow having 

 melted, that a shepherd on his rounds came 

 suddenly upon a dog which emerged from a 

 bracken and boulder-strewn brae. The poor 

 creature was reduced almost to a skeleton, and 

 upon the man following, it whined and ran for- 

 ward. It stopped over a weathered corpse 

 the body of young Gough, beside which it had 

 kept watch and ward for months. It would 

 allow no one to come near, though it was 

 noticed that its collar bore a name the name 

 of its master, and that which established his 

 identity. In the absence of the dog on its food 

 forays the hill foxes, ravens, and buzzards had 

 done their carnage on the body. This was taken 



