to this sort of tailoring, he had made
rather too close a fit of it, and now that it was dried up at the edges
and slightly shrunk, he found difficulty in removing it. Seeing, upon
further effort, that he could not get it off without risk of straining
the lamb's anatomy, he laid the problem across his knees again and
searched his pockets for his knife. He had felt for it, not very
thoroughly, before. The knife seemed to be lost.

Janet, awakened by the clamor in the pen, arose from the bunk and set
to work arranging her hair. Rather drowsily she moved about through
the rifts of sunshine which beamed from the cracks; then, as she
realized what a golden day the sun was weaving, she put her eye to a
crack and looked out. In her elongated picture of things there were
several miles of prairie, the sun just edge-to-edge with the horizon,
and any amount of blue sky above. In the sky were some birds soaring
at a great height. Smaller birds went skimming over the prairie,--now
a golden meadowlark, then a darker scissortail snipping the air off
behind it in swift flight. Suddenly, and rather precipitately, there
came from around the corner of the storm-shed a lamb in full action.
Its gait was as effective as it was erratic; it looked very much as if
the legs were running away with it.

From the corner of the shed it made a joyous gambol in the direction of
the fire and the steaming kettle, from which point it made for the
down-slope of the knoll. Steve Brown, whose legs were none too long
for the race, came running after. A moment later the dog arrived on
the scene; he made a sudden dash and performed his part in a most
creditable manner, overtaking the lamb and upsetting it with a poke of
his nose. The lamb, not at all disconcerted by the tumble, which was
only a variation of its method of progress, came over on its knees and
rose at once to go ahead; but the delay had been sufficient. Steve
caught up; and the next instant, the truant, feeling the ground removed
from under it, hung helpless across the hand of its captor.

"Je-e-emima!" Steve remarked. "You 're feeling awful glad this
morning."

Janet, who could not see the end of this performance, but only that
part of it which came within range of the crack, stepped back in
surprise. As who would not be surprised to see a black lamb with a
white head and white legs, and two tails. Such being the result of her
prying upon the world, she turned her attention to