be able to tell whether they were all there, and also to see whether
they were all afoot and feeding. In the event of anything being wrong,
he was to report it to his father. The circuit was one of three or
four miles, and the last field to be looked was that in which were
gathered the fifty or sixty sheep that were to be brought out to the
unfenced lawns round the mansion-house and be herded there during
the day.

These sheep were generally to be found waiting close to the gate, and
when it was opened they could quite easily find their own way down to
their feeding-ground. As they passed slowly on, cropping the grass as
they went, John was able to leave them and go home for his breakfast
of porridge and milk. Breakfast having been despatched, and Cheviot
fed, he once more wrapped his shepherd's plaid about him, remembering
to put a book or two, and perhaps a piece of bannock, into the _neuk_
of it, and set out to find his flock. There was usually little
difficulty in doing so, for the sheep knew the way and did not readily
wander out of it; while, even if they had deviated a little from the
direct route, no great harm would at this stage of their passage have
resulted. It was quite different when they came down to the lawns near
the house. These were surrounded by ornamental shrubbery, and it was
to keep the sheep from invading this and the adjacent flower-borders
that the services of the herd-boy were required.

What he had to do, then, after he had brought the sheep down, was to
take his place on some knoll which commanded the ground where they
were feeding, and keep an eye on them. If nothing disturbed them they
would feed quietly enough, and a long spell of reading might be quite
safely indulged in. If any of them showed signs of wandering out of
bounds, a stroll in their direction, book in hand, would usually be