Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant [graded readers txt] 📗

knees—and you may be sure the dog’s heart was heavy as the man’s. “We did our pest, Pip,” he cried brokenly, “but we’re peat—the first time ever we’ve been!”

No time to daily.

James Moore and Owd Bob were off on their last run.

No applause this time; not a voice was raised; anxious faces; twitching fingers; the whole crowd tense as a stretched wire. A false turn, a wilful sheep, a cantankerous judge, and the gray dog would, he beat. And not a man there but knew it.

Yet over the stream master and dog went about their business never so quiet, never so collected; for all the world as though they were rounding up a flock on the Muir Pike.

The old dog found his sheep in a twinkling and a wild, scared trio they proved. Rounding the first flag, one bright-eyed wether made a dash for the open. He was quick; but the gray dog was quicker: a splendid recover, and a sound like a sob from the watchers on the hill.

Down the slope they came for the gap in the wall. A little below the opening, James Moore took his stand to stop and turn them; while a distance behind his sheep loitered Owd Bob, seeming to follow rather than drive, yet watchful of every movement and anticipating it. On he came, one eye on his master, the other on his sheep; never hurrying them, never flurrying them, yet bringing them rapidly along.

No word was spoken; barely a gesture made; yet they worked, master and dog, like one divided.

Through the gap, along the hill parallel to the spectators, playing into one another’s hands like men at polo.

A wide sweep for the turn at the flags, and the sheep wheeled as though at the word of command, dropped through them, and trayelled rapidly for the bridge.

“Steady!” whispered the crowd.

“Steady, man!” muttered Parson Leggy.

“Hold ‘em, for God’s sake!” croaked Kirby huskily. “D—n! I knew it! I saw it coming!”

The pace down the hill had grown quicker—too quick. Close on the bridge the three sheep made an effort to break. A dash—and two were checked; but the third went away like the wind, and after him Owd Bob, a gray streak against the green.

Tammas was cursing silently; Kirby was. white to the lips; and in the stillness you could plainly hear the Dalesmen’s sobbing breath, as it fluttered in their throats.

“Gallop! they say he’s old and slow!” muttered the Parson. “Dash! Look at that!” For the gray dog, racing like the Nor’eastcr over the sea, had already retrieved the fugitive.

Man and dog were coaxing the three a step. at a time toward the bridge.

One ventured—the others followed.

In the middle the leader stopped and tried to turn—and time was flying, flying, and the penning alone must take minutes. Many a man’s hand was at hig watch, but no one could take his eyes off the group below him to~ look.

“We’re beat! I’ve won bet, Tammas! groaned Sam’l. (The two had a long-standing wager on the matter.) “I allus knoo hoo ‘twould be. I allus told yo’ th’ owd tyke

Then breaking into a bellow, his honest face crimson with enthusiasm: “Coom on, Master! Good for yo’, Owd Un! Yon’s the style!”

For the gray dog had leapt on the back of the hindmost sheep; it had surged forward against the next, and they were over, and making up the slope amidst a thunder of applause.

At the pen it was a sight to see shepherd and dog working together. The Master, his face stern and a little whiter than its wont, casting forward with both hands, herding the sheep in; the gray dog, his eyes big and bright, dropping to hand; crawling and creeping, closer and closer.

“They’re in!—Nay—Ay—dang me! Stop ‘er! Good, Owd Un! Ah-h-h, they’re in!” And the last sheep reluctantly passed through

—on the stroke of time.

A roar went up from the crowd; Maggie’s white face turned pink; and the Dalesmen mopped their wet brows. The mob surged forward, but the stewards held them back.

“Back, please! Don’t encroach! M’Adam‘3 to come!”

From the far bank the little man watched the scene. His coat and cap were off, and his hair gleamed white in the sun; his sleeves were rolled up; and his face was twitching but set as he stood—ready.

The hubbub over the stream at length subsided. One of the judges nodded to him.

“Noo, Wullie—noo or niver!—‘Scots wha hae’! “—and they were off.

“Back, gentlemen! back! He’s off—he’s coming! M’Adam’s coming!”

They might well shout and push; for the great dog was on to his sheep before they knew it; and they went away with a rush, with him right on their backs. Up the slope they swept and round the first flag, already galloping. Down the hill for the gap, and M’Adam was flying ahead to turn them. But they passed him like a hurricane, and Red Wull was in front with a rush and turned them alone.

“M’Adam wins! Five to four M’Adam! I lay agin Owd Bob!” rang out a clear voice in the silence.

Through the gap they rattled, ears. back, feet twinkling like the wings of driven grouse.

“He’s lost ‘em! They’ll break! They’re away!” was the cry.

Sam’l was half up the wheel of the Kenmuir wagon; every man was on his toes; ladies were standing in their carriages; even Jim Mason’s face flushed with momentary excitement.

The sheep were tearing along the hillside, all together, like a white scud. After them,, galloping like a Waterloo winner, raced Red Wull. And last of all, leaping over the ground like a demoniac, making not for the two flags, but the plank-bridge, the white-haired figure of M’Adam.

“He’s beat! The Killer’s beat!” roared a strident voice.

“M’Adam wins! Five to four M’Adam! I lay agin Owd Bob!” rang out the clear reply.

Red Wull was now racing parallel to the fugitives and above them. All four were travelling at a terrific rate; while the two flags were barely twenty yards in front, below the line of flight and almost parallel to it. To effect the turn a change of direction must be macic almost through a right angle,

“He’s beat! he’s beat! M’Adam’s beat! Can’t make it nohow!” was the roar.

From over the stream a yell— “Turn ‘em, Wullie!”

At the word the great dog swerved down on the flying three. They turned, still at the gallop, like a troop of cavalry, and dropped, clean and neat, between the flags; and down to the stream they rattled, passing M’Adam on the way as though he was standing.

“Weel done, Wullie!” came the scream from the far bank; and from the crowd went up an involuntary burst of applause.

“Ma word!

“Did yo’ see that?”

“By gob!”

It was a turn, indeed, of which the smartest team in the galloping horse-gunners might well have been proud. A shade later, and they must have overshot the mark; a shade sooner, and a miss.

“He’s not been two minutes so far. We’re beaten—don’t you think so, Uncle Leggy?” asked Muriel Sylvester, looking up piteously into the parson’s face.

“It’s not what I think, my dear; it’s what the judges think,” the parson replied; and what he thought their verdict would be was plainly writ on his face for all to read.

Right on to the centre of the bridge the leading sheep galloped and—stopped abruptly.

Up above in the crowd there was utter silence; staring eyes; rigid fingers. The sweat was dripping off Long Kirby’s face; and, at the back, a green-coated bookmaker slipped his note-book in his pocket, and glanced behind him. James Moore, standing in front of them all, was the calmest there.

Red Wull was not to be denied. Like his forerunner he leapt on the back of the hind-. most sheep. But the red dog was heavy where the gray was light. The sheep staggered, slipped, and fell.

Almost before it had touched the water, M’Adam, his face afire and eyes flaming, was. in the stream. In a second he had hold of the struggling creature, and, with an almost superhuman effort, had half thrown, half shoved it on to the bank.

Again a tribute of admiration, led by James Moore.

The little man scrambled, panting, on to the bank and raced after sheep and dog. His face was white beneath the perspiration; his breath came in quavering gasps; his trousers were wet and clinging to his legs; he was trembling in every limb, and yet indomitable.

They were up to the pen, and the last wrestle began. The crowd, silent and motionless, craned forward to watch the uncanny, white-haired little man and the huge dog, working so close below them. M’Adam’s face was white; his eyes staring, unnaturally bright; his bent body projected forward; and he tapped with his stick on the ground like a blind man, coaxing the sheep in. And the Tailless Tyke, his tongue out and flanks heaving, crept and crawled and worked up to the opening, patient as he had never been before.

They were in at last.

There was a lukewarm, half-hearted cheer; then silence.

Exhausted and trembling, the little man leant against the pen, one hand on it; while Red Wull, his flanks still heaving, gently licked the other. Quite close stood James Moore and the gray dog; above was the black wall of people, utterly still; below, the judges comparing notes. In the silence you could almost hear the panting of the crowd.

Then one of the judges went up to James Moore and shook him by the hand.

The gray dog had won. Owd Bob o’ Kenmuir had won the Shepherds’ Trophy outright.

A second’s palpitating silence; a woman’s hysterical laugh,—and a deep-mouthed bellow rent the expectant air: shouts, screams, hattossings, back-clappings blending in a din that made the many-winding waters of the Silver Lea quiver and quiver again.

Owd Bob o’ Kenmuir had won the Shepherds’ Trophy outright.

Maggie’s face flushed a scarlet hue. Wee Anne flung fat arms toward her triumphant Bob, and screamed with the best. Squire and parson, each red-cheeked, were boisterously shaking hands. Long Kirby, who had not prayed for thirty years, ejaculated with heartfelt earnestness, “Thank God!” Sam’l Todd bellowed in Tammas’s ear, and almost slew him with his mighty buffets. Among the Dalesmen some laughed like drunken men; some cried like children; all joined in that roaring song of victory.

To little M ‘Adam, standing with his back to the crowd, that storm of cheering came as the first announcement of defeat.

A wintry smile, like the sun over a March sea, crept across his face.

“We might a kent it, Wullie,” he muttered, soft and low. The tension loosed, the battle lost, the little man almost broke down. There were red dabs of color in his face; his eyes were big; his lips pitifully quivering; he was near to sobbing.

An old man utterly alone he had staked his all on a throw and lost.

Lady Eleanour marked the forlorn little figure, standing solitary on the fringe of the uproarious mob. She noticed the expression on his face; and her tender heart went out to the lone man in his defeat.

She went up to him and laid a hand upon his arm.

“Mr. M’Adam,” she said timidly, “won’t you come and sit down in the tent? You look so tired! I can find you a corner where no one shall disturb you.”

The little man wrenched roughly away. The unexpected kindness, coming at that moment, was almost too much for him. A few paces off he turned again.

“It’s reel kind o’ yer ladyship,” he said huskily; and tottered away to be alone with Red Wull.

Meanwhile the victors stood like rocks in the tideway. About them surged a continually changing throng, shaking the man’s