Lobo 



perhaps only one, strong weakness, namely, to 

 follow their leader. And this the shepherds 

 turn to good account by putting half a dozen 

 goats in the flock of sheep. The latter recog- 

 nize the superior intelligence of their bearded 

 cousins, and when a night alarm occurs they 

 crowd around them, and usually are thus saved 

 from a stampede and are easily protected. But it 

 was not always so. One night late in last No- 

 vember, two Perico shepherds were aroused by 

 an onset of wolves. Their flocks huddled 

 around the goats, which being neither fools 

 nor cowards, stood their ground and were 

 bravely defiant ; but alas for them, no common 

 wolf was heading this attack. Old Lobo, the 

 weir- wolf, knew as well as the shepherds that 

 the goats were the moral force of the flock, so 

 hastily running over the backs of the densely 

 packed sheep, he fell on these leaders, slew 

 them all in a few minutes, and soon had the 

 luckless sheep stampeding in a thousand differ- 

 ent directions. For weeks afterward I was al- 

 most daily accosted by some anxious shepherd, 

 who asked, "Have you seen any stray OTO 

 sheep lately?" and usually I was obliged to 



36 



