One dark night James Hogg was on the hilltop with a flock of seven
hundred lambs. Sirrah was with him. Suddenly a storm came up. There
was thunder and lightning; the wind blew hard; the rain poured.

The poor lambs were frightened. The shepherd and his dog could not
keep them together. Some of them ran towards the east, some towards
the west, and some towards the south.

The shepherd soon lost sight of them in the darkness. With his lighted
lantern in his hand, he went up and down the rough hills calling for
his lambs.

Two or three other shepherds joined him in the search. All night long
they sought for the lambs.

Morning came and still they sought. They looked, as they thought, in
every place where the lambs might have taken shelter.

At last James Hogg said, "It's of no use; all we can do is to go home
and tell the master that we have lost his whole flock."

They had walked a mile or two towards home, when they came to the edge
of a narrow and deep ravine. They looked down, and at the bottom they
saw some lambs huddled together among the rocks. And there was Sirrah
standing guard over them and looking all around for help "These must
be the lambs that rushed off towards the south," said James Hogg.

[Illustration]

The men hurried down and soon saw that the flock was a large one.