THE CHEVIOT BREED. 109 



snow, and sometimes weltering in it up to the chin. The fol- 

 lowing instance of our successful exertions marks our pro- 

 gress to a tittle : There was an enclosure around the house 

 to the westward, which we denominated ' the Park,' as was 

 customary in Scotland at that period, and in that quarter, 

 where a farm seldom boasted more than one enclosed piece 

 of ground. When we went away we calculated that it was 

 two hours until day ; the park did not extend above three 

 hundred yards ; and we were still engaged in it when day- 

 light appeared. When we got free of the park, we also got 

 free of the eddy of the wind. It was now straight in our 

 faces ; we went in a line before each other, and changed 

 places every three or four minutes, and at length, after great 

 fatigue, reached a long ridge of a hill where the snow was 

 thinner, having been blown off by the force of the wind, and 

 by this we had hopes of reaching within a short space of the 

 ewes, which were still a mile and a half distant. Our master 

 had taken the lead ; I was next him, and soon began to sus- 

 pect, from the depth of the snow, that he was leading us quite 

 wrong ; but, as we always trusted implicitly to the person that 

 was foremost for the time, I said nothing for a good while, 

 until satisfied that we were going in a direction very nearly 

 right opposite to that we intended. I then tried to expostulate 

 with him ; but he did not seem to understand what I said; and, 

 on getting a glimpse of his countenance, I perceived that it 

 was quite altered. Not to alarm the others, nor even him- 

 self, I said I was becoming terribly fatigued, and proposed 

 that we should lean on the snow, and take each a little 

 whisky (for I had brought a small bottle in my pocket, for 

 fear of the worst), and some bread and cheese. This was 

 unanimously agreed to, and I noted that he swallowed the 

 'spirits rather eagerly, a thing not usual with him, and when 

 he tried to eat, it was long before he could eat any thing. I 

 was convinced that he would fail altogether, but, as it would 

 have been easier to have got him to the shepherd's house, 



