pe did not spread over all the
mountain-side and echo back strong and clear from the opposite hills.
She was very fond of Old Pipes, and proud of his piping; and as he was
so much younger than she was, she never thought of him as being very
old. She cooked for him, and made his bed, and mended his clothes; and
they lived very comfortably on his little salary.

One afternoon, at the end of the month, when Old Pipes had finished his
piping, he took his stout staff and went down the hill to the village to
receive the money for his month's work. The path seemed a great deal
steeper and more difficult than it used to be; and Old Pipes thought
that it must have been washed by the rains and greatly damaged. He
remembered it as a path that was quite easy to traverse either up or
down. But Old Pipes had been a very active man, and as his mother was so
much older than he was, he never thought of himself as aged and infirm.

When the Chief Villager had paid him, and he had talked a little with
some of his friends, Old Pipes started to go home. But when he had
crossed the bridge over the brook, and gone a short distance up the
hill-side, he became very tired, and sat down upon a stone. He had not
been sitting there half a minute, when along came two boys and a girl.

"Children," said Old Pipes, "I'm very tired to-night, and I don't
believe I can climb up this steep path to my home. I think I shall have
to ask you to help me."

"We will do that," said the boys and the girl, quite cheerfully; and one
boy took him by the right hand and the other by the left, while the girl
pushed him in the back. In this way he went up the hill quite easily,
and soon reached his cottage door. Old Pipes gave each of the three
children a copper coin, and then they sat down for a few minutes' rest
before starting back to the village.

"I'm sorry that I tired you so much," said Old Pipes.

"Oh, that would not have tired us," said one of the boys, "if we had not
been so far to-day after the cows, the sheep, and the goats. They
rambled high up on the mountain, and we never before had such a time in
finding them."

"Had to go after the cows, the sheep, and the goats!" exclaimed Old
Pipes. "What do you mean by that?"

The girl, who stood behind the old man, shook her head, put her hand on
her mouth, and made all sorts of signs to the boy to stop talking on
this subject; but he did not notice her, and promptly answered Old
Pipes.

"Why, you see, goo