"Why?"

"Because I tell ye to, ma lad"; and that was all the reason he would
give. Had he told the simple fact that he wanted help to drench a
"husking" ewe, things might have gone differently. As it was,
David turned away defiantly down the hill.

The afternoon wore on. Schooltime was long over; still there was
no David.

The little man waited at the door of the Grange, fuming, hopping
from one leg to the other, talking to Red Wull, who lay at his feet,
his head on his paws, like a tiger waiting for his prey.

At length he could restrain himself no longer; and started running
down the bill, his heart burning with indignation.

"Wait till we lay hands on ye, ma lad," he muttered as he ran.
"We'll warm ye, we'll teach ye."

At the edge of the Stony Bottom he, as always, left Red Wull.
Crossing it himself, and rounding Langholm How, he espied James
Moore, David, and Owd Bob walking away from him and in the
direction of Kenmuir. The gray dog and David were playing
together. wrestling, racing, and rolling. The boy had never a
thought for his father.

The little man ran up behind them, unseen and unheard, his feet
softly pattering on the grass. His hand had fallen on David's