Il8 NATURAL HISTORY EST ANECDOTE. 



one in a place of safety, she again set out full speed to the 

 hills, and brought another and another, till she removed her 

 whole litter one by one; but the last one was dead. The 

 stories related of the dogs of sheep-stealers, he continues, are 

 fairly beyond all credibility. I cannot attach credit to some 

 of them without believing the animals to have been devils 

 incarnate, come to the earth for the destruction both of the 

 souls and bodies of men. I cannot mention names, for the 

 sake of families that still remain in the country; but there 

 have been sundry men executed, who belonged to this dis- 

 trict of the kingdom, for that heinous crime, in my own days; 

 and others have absconded, just in time to save their necks. 

 There was not one of these to whom I allude who did not 

 acknowledge his dog to be the greatest aggressor. One yoimg 

 man in particular, who was, I believe, overtaken by justice 

 for his first offence, stated, that after he had folded the sheep 

 by moonlight, and selected his number from the flock of a 

 former master, he took them out, and set away with them 

 towards Edinburgh. But before he had got them quite oflf 

 the farm, his conscience smote him, as he said (but more 

 likely a dread of that which soon followed), and he quitted 

 the sheep, letting them go again to the hill. He called his 

 dog off them; and mounting his pony, he rode away. At 

 that time he said his dog was capering and playing around 

 him, as if glad of having got free of a troublesome business; 

 and he regarded him no more, till, after having rode about 

 three miles, he thought again and again that he heard something 

 coming up behind him. Halting, at leftgth, to ascertain what 

 it was, in a few minutes up came his dog with the stolen 

 animals, driving them at a furious rate to keep up with his 

 master. The sheep were all smoking, and hsmging out their 

 tongues, and their guide was fully warm as they. The 

 yoimg man was now exceedingly troubled, for the sheep 

 having been brought so far from home, he dreaded there 

 would be a pursuit, and he could not get them home again 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



