At last, after hours of anxious waiting, a welcome footstep was heard
and the happy children ran to open the door. Their father came in,
shaking the snow from his rough coat. He looked very grave and tired.

"Oh, father!" cried Sandy. "Where is Rover? And have you found the
sheep?"

The poor man shook his head. "The sheep are not to be found," he said
sadly. "And I have lost our good Rover, too. It is a terrible storm. I
fear they are all frozen. If the sheep are killed, it will take all I
have in the world to pay for them."



ROVER COMES HOME.


Sandy and Jessie began to cry. Their mother, too, was crying. She was
busy with the supper, but her thoughts were with the poor, hungry
animals in the bitter cold.

Early the next morning, and for several days the shepherd went out to
look for his lost sheep, but he could find no trace of them.

"There is nothing for me to do now but to go to the owner of the sheep,"
he said, at last. "He is a very hard man. I am afraid he will turn us
out of our home."

Suddenly, while he was speaking, there was a noise at the door, and in