Page:The red book of animal stories.djvu/292

 As soon as the door of the fold was shut, Hogg went in to his own supper, and then put down Hector's; but the dog was nowhere to be seen. Hogg whistled and called for some time, but to no purpose, and finally he gave it up and went to bed, wondering how in the world he was to drive his lambs to market without the help of his collie.

His first question when he woke was whether Hector had come home; but no one had seen or heard anything of him. What was to be done? Each person suggested something different, till it was decided that the shepherd's father should feed the lambs and get them ready for their walk (shepherds take a great deal of pride in having a smart flock), while Hogg rode as fast as he could back to the farm to ask if Hector had returned there. So father and son left the house together, to bring the lambs out of the fold, and when they reached the door there was poor Hector sitting before it, never taking his eyes off his charges, for fear lest they should run away! There he had sat all the night long in the pouring rain, hungry and tired, a martyr to what he considered his duty, though a wiser dog would have known that, once they were in the fold, he need not trouble about the lambs any further.

The Hoggs had a cat which Hector hated with a deadly hatred, though he was too good-natured to hurt her, however provoking she might be. His way of revenging himself for puss's impertinence towards him was to 'point' her, as if she was a bird, whenever they were in the room together. If annoyed at being watched in this manner, the cat got up and sat in another place, Hector was sure to follow her and begin again; and this went on till he had to go to his work or else fell asleep.

Hector had a very small appetite, and often the only way to make him eat was to bring in the cat and set her to the plate. Then he got furious at her attempting to take what belonged to him; his eyes glared, and his tail stood up straight with anger. When her nose touched