THE SHEEP DOG. 1357

had been there to have assisted him, they could not have
effected it with greater propriety. All that I can farther say
is, that I never felt so grateful to any creature below the sun,
as I did to my honest Sirrah that morning.”
The “The late Mr. Steel, flesher in Peebles,” says
Sheep-dog’s James Hogg, “had a bitch whose feats in taking
Fidelity. sheep from the neighbouring farms into the Flesh-
market at Peebles, form innumerable anecdotes in that vici-
nity, all similar to one another. But there is one instance
related of her, that combines so much sagacity with natural
affection, that I do not think the history of the animal creation
furnishes such another. Mr. Steel had such an implicit
dependence on the attention of this animal to his orders,
that, whenever he put a lot of sheep before her, he took a
pride in leaving them to herself, and either remained to take
a glass with the farmer of whom he had made the purchase,
or took another road to look after bargains or other business.
But one time he chanced to commit a drove to her charge
at a place called Willenslee, without attending to her condi-
tion as he ought to have done. This farm is five miles from
Peebles, over wild hills, and there is no regularly defined
path to it. Whether Mr. Steel remained behind, or chose
another road, I know not; but, on coming home late in the
evening, he was astonished at hearing that his faithful animal
had not made her appearance with the flock. He and his
son, or servant, instantly prepared to set out by different
paths in search of her; but, on their going out to the street,
there was she coming with the drove, not one missing; and
marvellous to relate, she was carrying a young pup in her
mouth! She had been taken in travail on those hills; and
how the poor beast had contrived to manage the drove in
her state of suffering is beyond human calculation, for her
road lay through sheep the whole way. Her master’s heart
smote him when he saw what she had suffered and effected:
but she was nothing daunted; and having deposited her young