ll of them from swearing helplessly fell to waiting
quietly. Soon the bleating became less and less, and began to
concentrate on the mountain-side. Not far below, they could hear Chad:

"Coo-oo-sheep! Coo-oo-sh'p-cooshy-cooshy-coo-oo-sheep!"

The sheep were answering. They were coming down a ravine, and Chad's
voice rang out above:

"Somebody come across, an' stand on each side o' the holler."

Dolph and Rube waded across then, and soon the sheep came crowding down
the narrow ravine with Jack barking behind them and Chad shooing them
down. But for Dolph and Rube, Beelzebub would have led them up or down
the river, and it was hard work to get him into the water until Jack,
who seemed to know what the matter was, sharply nipped several sheep
near him. These sprang violently forward, the whole flock in front
pushed forward, too, and Beelzebub was thrust from the bank. Nothing
else being possible, the old ram settled himself with a snort into the
water and made for the other shore. Chad and Jack followed and, when
they reached the road, Beelzebub was again a prisoner; the sheep,
swollen like sponges, were straggling down the river, and Dillons and
Turners were standing around in silence. Jack shook himself and dropped
panting in the dust at his master's feet, without so much as an upward
glance or a lift of his head for a pat of praise. As old Joel raised
one foot heavily to his stirrup, he grunted, quietly:

"Well, I be damned." And when he was comfortably in his saddle he said
again, with unction:

"I DO be damned. I'll just take that dawg to help drive them sheep down
to town. Come on, boy."

Chad started joyfully, but the old mother called from the door: "Who's
a-goin' to take this gal to school, I'd like to know?"

Old Joel pulled in his horse, straightened one leg, and looked all
around--first at the Dillons, who had started away, then at Dolph and
Rube, who were moving determinedly after the sheep (it was Court Day in
town and they could not miss Court Day), and then at Chad, who halted.

"Boy," he said, "don't you want to go to school--you ought to go to
school?"

"Yes," said Chad, obediently, though the trip to town--and Chad had
never been to a town--was a sore temptation.

"Go on, then, an' tell the teacher I sent ye. Here, Mammy--eh, what's
yo' name, boy? Oh, Mammy--Chad, here 'll take her. Take good keer o'
that gal, boy, an' learn yo' a-b-abs like a man now."

Melissa came shyly forward from the