snow drift
snow drift
[Concluded.]
Wehave told, in a former number, how Dick’s sheep and lamb had wandered away, and how a deep fall of snow had come, making the poor boy fear that they were lost.
In two days the snow was three feet deep. It was impossible now to travel about, and Dick gave up the search; but he was almost heart-broken. He was sorry to lose Nan, but his heart was touched, and his tears fell, to think that she and her poor little lamb were probably frozen to death.
The storm cleared away, but the snow was deep, and for three weeks the weather was very cold. Dick had given up all hope of seeing his sheep and lamb. But he happened one day to be talking about them, when one of his playmates said that he saw them grazing on a particular hillside the day before the storm. Dick ascertained the exact spot, and with a feeling he could hardly define, he went to the place.
He roamed about for sometime; but what could he hope to see? The snow was still deep, and covered everything around. At last he came to a snow-drift which rose by the side of a rock to the height of several feet. Up this drift he ran, when the snow-crust gave way, and he tumbled into a deep cavern! What was his amazement to find himself at once in the presence of Nan and her lamb! Dick could scarcely believe his senses; but such was the truth. They had been buried in the snow-drift, and there they had dwelt for three weeks! The old sheep had dug to the earth, and had got a few roots; and she had eaten all the wool off her back, that she could reach. Thus she had sustained life, though she was sadly emaciated.
By stepping and moving round, she had made a room of considerable size in the snow-drift, and it was into this Dick had tumbled. Her lamb had fared tolerably well, but he too was very thin. It was really very affecting to see old Nan welcome Dick. She bleated as if her heart would break; she licked his hands, and looked in his eyes in the most beseeching manner. The whole story of her sufferings and her joy was told in her countenance.
Dick now let Nan out, and she with her lamb followed him home. This was a day of joy for him—and perhaps he had no happiness in after life superior to that which he experienced in finding his sheep and lamb alive; in leading them home; in telling the glorious news; and in feeding the creatures till all traces of their sorrow were wiped away!