108 THE SHEEP. 



for about three quarters of an hour longer ; and then 

 rose, and on reaching the house with much difficulty, found 

 our master, the ploughman, Borthwick, and the two servant 

 maids, sitting round the kitchen fire, with looks of dismay, I 

 may almost say despair. We all agreed at once, that the 

 sooner we were able to reach the sheep, the better chance 

 we had to save a remnant ; and as there were eight hundred 

 excellent ewes, all in one lot, but a long way distant, and 

 the most valuable lot of any on the farm, we resolved to 

 make a bold effort to reach them. Our master made family 

 worship, a duty he never neglected ; but that morning the 

 manner in which he expressed our trust and confidence in 

 Heaven, was particularly affecting. We took our breakfast 

 filled our pockets with bread and cheese sewed our plaids 

 around us tied down our hats with napkins coming below 

 our chins and each taking a strong staff in his hand, we 

 set out on the attempt. 



" No sooner was the door closed behind us than we lost 

 sight of each other : seeing there was none it was impos- 

 sible for a man to see his hand held up before him and it 

 was still two hours till day. We had no means of keeping to- 

 gether but by following to one another's voices, nor of work- 

 ing our way save by groping before us with our staves. It 

 soon appeared to me a hopeless concern, for, ere ever we got 

 clear of the houses and hay-stacks, we had to roll ourselves 

 over two or three wreaths which it was impossible to wade 

 through ; and all the while the wind and drift were so violent, 

 that every three or four minutes we were obliged to hold our 

 faces down between our knees to recover our breath. We 

 soon got into an eddying wind that was altogether insuffer- 

 able, and, at the same time, we were struggling among snow 

 so deep, that our progress in the way we proposed going was 

 very equivocal indeed, for we had by this time lost all idea 

 of east, west, north, or south. Still we were as busy as men 

 determined on an enterprize of moment could be, and perse- 

 vered on we knew not whither, sometimes rolling over the 



