to grieve."

"Grandfather, I have been no idler. Since the last hunt, the flock hath
been allowed to browse the woods; for no man, in all that week, saw wolf,
panther, or bear, though the country was up, from the great river to the
outer settlements of the colony. The biggest four-footed animal, that lost
its hide in the muster, was a thin-ribbed deer, and the stoutest battle
given, was between wild Whittal Ring, here, and a wood-chuck that kept him
at arm's-length, for the better part of an afternoon."

"Thy tale may be true, but it neither finds that which is lost, nor
completeth the number of thy mother's flock. Hast thou ridden carefully
throughout the clearing? It is not long, since I saw the animals grazing
in that quarter. What hast thou twisting in thy fingers, in that wasteful
and unthankful manner, Whittal?"

"What would make a winter blanket, if there was enough of it! wool! and
wool, too, that came from the thigh of old Straight-Horns; else have I
forgotten a leg, that gives the longest and coarsest hair at the
shearing."

"That truly seemeth a lock from the animal that is wanting," exclaimed the
other boy. "There is no other creature in the flock, with fleece so coarse
and shaggy. Where found you the handful, Whittal Ring?"

"Growing on the branch of a thorn. Queer fruit this, masters, to be seen
where young plums ought to ripen!"

"Go, go," interrupted the old man; "thou idlest, and mispendest the time
in vain talk. Go, fold thy flock, Mark; and do thou, weak-one, house thy