118 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

one in a place of safety, she again set out full speed to the
hills, and brought another and another, till she removed her
whole litter one by one; but the last one was dead. The
stories related of the dogs of sheep-stealers, he continues, are
fairly beyond all credibility. I cannot attach credit to some
of them without believing the animals to have been devils
incarnate, come to the earth for the destruction both of the
souls and bodies of men. I cannot mention names, for the
sake of families that still remain in the country; but there
have been sundry men executed, who belonged to this dis-
trict of the kingdom, for that heinous crime, in my own days;
and others have absconded, just in time to save their necks.
There was not one of these to whom I allude who did not
acknowledge his dog to be the greatest aggressor. One young
man in particular, who was, I believe, overtaken by justice
for his first offence, stated, that after he had folded the sheep
by moonlight, and selected his number from the flock of a
former master, he took them out, and set away with them
towards Edinburgh. But before he had got them quite off
the farm, his conscience smote him, as he said (but more
likely a dread of that which soon followed), and he quitted
the sheep, letting them go again to the hill. He called his
dog off them; and mounting his pony, he rode away. At
that time he said his dog was capering and playing around
him, as if glad of having got free of a troublesome business;
and he regarded him no more, till, after having rode about
three miles, he thought again and again that he heard something
coming up behind him. Halting, at length, to ascertain what
it was, in a few minutes up came his dog with the stolen
animals, driving them at a furious rate to keep up with his
master. The sheep were all smoking, and hanging out their
tongues, and their guide was fully warm as they. The
young man was now exceedingly troubled, for the sheep
having been brought so far from home, he dreaded there
would be a pursuit, and he could not get them home again