THE PREVARICATION STORY. 73

so they laid down the halter, and went.
They played in the barn yard some time,
amusing themselves particularly with a ram
which was there. The time passed away
very fast, and though they had a secret feel-
ing all the time that they were doing wrong,
they kept staying a little longer, and a little
longer. After some time, they caught the
ram, and then they thought it would be
capital fun to put the halter on him, and
lead him about as they had done the heifer.
So, one of the boys went and got the halter,
and then came the task of putting it on.
Some of them held the ram, grasping his
woolly sides with their hands; others slipped
_ the halter over his head, and contrived to
buckle it up, though it was a great deal too
big for him. The poor ram did not know
what to make of this usage, and he pulled
and struggled, and did his best to get free.
First, he drew back; then, he sprang for-
ward, the boys shouting around him, and
holding on to his sides, and to the halter.
Presently he shot ahead, the boys after him;
but he succeeded in getting clear, and with
a bound jerked away the halter from the
boy’s hand who held it, escaped from the
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