one day i ll be trusted again with a flock i m young and can wait and who knows may tell me his cure for the and by serving him i may get a when has a litter in such wise jacob looked to and for future fortune and as he came over the ridge and caught sight of waiting for him he said call up thy dogs master lest they should fall upon mine and upon me has already risen to his feet and growling laid his staff across their backs what will ye attack jacob he cried and what be your quarrel with his dogs poor dogs jacob answered that would be quickly killed by thine if i had had dogs like and the wolves would not but jacob thou have lost thy dogs as well as thy sheep what stand could any dogs make against a pack of wolves and a shepherd without dogs is like a bird without wings as brother used to say yes that is just it jacob replied struck by the of the comparison thou art known to be the most shepherd on the hills but the flock would not have increased without thy dogs is great in his knowledge of dogs and he told me that he had never known any like thine master come now cried come lie down here lay thy against my knee and growl not at jacob or i ll send thee away so spoke of my dogs they are well enough one can work with them but had better dogs whereupon told a story how one night he had lain under a fair sky to sleep and had slept so soundly that the rain had not him but � that was the dog s name � distressed at the sight of me lying in the rain began to my face and when i had wrung out my cloak he led me to a dry cave s� the brook unknown to me though i thought i knew every one in these hills he must have gone in search of one as soon as it began to rain and when he found a dry one he came back to awaken me more faithful dogs he said there never were than these at my feet but i ve known stronger and but i d tell thee another story of and he related how one night in december as he watched having for his protection only his other dogs and being at home one with a lame the other with he had fallen asleep though he knew robbers were about in the hills especially in the winter months he said but i knew i could count on to awake me if one came to steal the sheep now what about to say jacob happened at the time of the great rain of december when the nights are dark about us i was sleeping in a sheltered place in the of a cliff the flock was folded and was away upon his rounds and it was then that two robbers stole into the cave one was about to plunge his dagger into me but i had time to catch his wrist and to whistle and in a few seconds upon the robber that was seeking to me he bit his neck and shoulder and then leaving that robber he attacked the robber s mate and it was wonderful how he crept round and round in the darkness biting him all the time and then pursuing the two he worried them up the valley until his heart him and he thought it wouldn t be safe to leave me alone any longer but would defend thee against a robber jacob said and he called to the dog but only growled at him have patience with them rejoined i ll not feed them for three days and after feeding them thou lt take them to the hills and when they have and killed a for thee it may be that they ll accept thee for master but these rarely love twice come the brook jacob and we ll look into thy flock of and take counsel together they seem to be doing fairly well with thee � a bit tired i dare say thou hast come a long way with them we walked too fast jacob answered saying he had had to go farther than he thought for in search of grass and had found some that was worth the distance they had for the had fallen to at once fell to at once did they repeated when they re folded with the thou it put into their jaws a stick to keep them from and without waiting for jacob to answer he asked which of all these he would choose to keep for breeding from jacob pointed out first one and then another but shook his head and showed him a lamb which jacob had not cast his eyes over and said one may not say for certain but i shall be surprised if he doesn t come into a fine broad shouldered ram strong across the and straight on his legs the sort to get that do well on these hills and thou lt be well advised to leave him on his dam another hundred days him for it will give him strength to take some wool from him but do not take it from his back for he will want the wool there to protect him from the sun and all the first year he will about with the and jump upon them but it will be only play for his time has not yet come in two more years he ll be at his height serving ten a day but keep him not over long thou must always have some new preparing else thy flock will decline the ram thou on the right is old and must soon be replaced 