Across the brook hurried Russ, and, a little way ahead of him, he saw his brother.
"Hi, Laddie!" he called. "Wait for me! Where are you going?"
Laddie waited, and Russ soon caught up to him. But Laddie did not at once answer his older brother's question. So Russ asked again:
"Where are you going?" Then, before Laddie had a chance to say anything, Russ went on: "I know! You're going to pick wild strawberries, and put sugar on 'em."
"No, I'm not," returned Laddie slowly. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to give some sugar to the sheep."
"Give sugar to the sheep?" cried Russ in surprise. "What're you going to do that for?"
"'Cause they don't like salt, I guess," answered Laddie. "I don't like salt, and I don't guess a sheep does. The farmer said he was going to give salt to the sheep, but they must like sugar better. So I got Jane to give me some, and I'm going to take it to the sheep."
"I'll help you take it," said Russ. "I should think sheep would like sugar better than salt."
Together the two little boys kept on over the meadow until they came to the field where the sheep were grazing. There were quite a number of them.
"What'll we do if the old ram runs at us?" asked Russ, as he and Laddie crawled under the fence.