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 out of the mountains into the broader valleys nearer civilization for the winter months. But his father had decided that he ought to go into his office to help him with the business and on the fruit orchards, which were also a feature of the work on the great ranch. So Richard reluctantly left Silversheene with the shepherds to help them drive in the sheep when the time should come while he went back home.

All went well with Silversheene and the sheep until early in November when they started to round the sheep up and to drive them down into the warm valleys. Then the weather played them a bad trick. Before they had any idea that it was coming the first snow was upon them with a fall of a foot. The snow had fallen in the night and when the day dawned it was still snowing hard. The shepherds knew that the more snow they had the harder time they would have in getting the sheep out, so they kept on driving them in a blinding snowstorm. It was Silversheene's task to fol-