136 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



are retained. After the " clipping," and whilst 

 the yeomen are carousing in the old barn, the 

 shepherds start on the return journey with the 

 fleeceless flock. As the lambs are brought 

 to the ewes there is a perfect babel of bleats. 

 Turned into the long lanes, the white fleeceless 

 flock presents an indescribable picture of pas- 

 toral beauty. Everywhere sheep hang upon the 

 hazel-clad slopes, stretching their quiet necks 

 to the herbage. Not a foot of the bank is 

 unoccupied — two long lines of sleek, browsing- 

 sheep, reaching away until a bend in the road 

 hides them. Soon the bleating becomes less 

 general ; then it ceases, and a strange stillness 

 fills the lane. A breeze brings up the left 

 lambs' voices, and all is confusion again. And 

 thus we plod slowly on to the fells in the sultry 

 summer afternoon, and turn the flock again 

 upon the green slopes. The hills become 

 animate with a thousand sheep. Soon few 

 are to be seen ; they have dispersed, but seem 

 to have dissolved. 



Then we turn homewards, ourselves and the 

 three dogs — not down the long dale road, but 

 by the Forest — " forest " only by name now, 

 and thick with peat, having traces of birch 



