Then he mounted hurriedly and shouted to the sheep, and began to muster them up again; and, lo! there was the “leany” tree, and the old familiar bend not twenty yards off from where he had been hopelessly sobbing! and there, just round the bend, Gillong was in sight; and he could even see Doris and Baby playing out on the flat. All within cooee of him all the time! Dear me! All his worrying for nothing! What would they say if they knew? But he would never, never, never tell them!
And so no one ever knew that Willie had given up hope that fine morning, and thought he was lost for ever in the creek paddock.
CHAPTER XII.
WILLIE.
It was three days later.
“Oh, do let us bring the sheep in from the Gums paddock!” cried Willie. “We can drive them up—really we can. You’ll come, won’t you, Eva?”
“Yes, I’ll come,” cried Eva, who was getting much more fond of the outdoor life. “We’ll just show them, Willie, how smart we are, and that we can bring them in; and it’ll save sending a man.”
“All right,” said Mr. Hudson. “Off you go!”
“And we’ll take Gussie,” said Willie.
“All right, please yourself, but he’s no good. He knows no more about sheep than a kitten.”
“All the same, he’s a nice dog,” said Willie to himself, as he and Eva and Gussie started off.