s dead from up here," I replied, for I did
not like the idea of going down there very well.

"Come along," said Ned, laughing. "You needn't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid," said I. "But it is a kind of lonesome looking place."

"Yes, 'tis," replied Ned, stopping for a little to look again. "But
let's go down and see. They'll ask us all about it, and we've got to
find out what we can."

He walked along the top of the ledge, and, coming to a place where we
could descend between some large split rocks, began to climb down. I
followed after him, a little in the rear. Ned had got down among the
small spruces, at the foot of the crag, when he suddenly called back to
me that one of the lambs was there. "Poor little chap, he's hid here,
under the brush," he continued; and on getting down, I saw the lamb
standing far under the thick, dark boughs.

"I never saw a lamb hide in that way before," said Ned. "He's been awful
scared by something."

We crept around and tried to catch the lamb; it ran along the foot of
the rocks among the evergreens, but did not bleat, nor behave at all as
lambs generally do.

"He's got blood on his side there," remarked Ned. "But he may have got
that off the old sheep."

After looking at the lamb a moment, Ned started to go down where the
carcass of the sheep lay, but I felt a little timid and stood still,
near the foot of the rocks.

It was not far to go, not more than a hundred feet, I think, being about
half way down to the thick, reddish hedge of recently cut spruce. Ned
approached within a few yards and after looking at the fleece and bones
a minute, stopped to pick up a wisp of wool, when from right at hand
there burst forth the most frightful growl that I ever heard. It broke
on the utter stillness of that quiet nook like a thunder peal and it so
wrought on my already alert senses that I yelled outright from sudden
terror!

For the moment I could not have told from what quarter the terrible
sound came, for the high rocks behind me reverberated it. Following
instantly upon the growl, however, we heard a cracking of the brush in
the thicket below the hedge fence; and next moment there issued through
a hole in it a large black animal of terrific aspect, that to my
startled eyes looked as large as an ox!

Not that I stopped to estimate its size. I was on the move by the time
it had issued from the hole of the hedge fence;--but a boy's eye will
take in a good deal at one glance, under such