That advice have I followed always. And if I lost my four sheep then, through the plagiarism of that bad fellow, by hook or crook I have fetched four more out of the wilderness of the past; and I only wish they were better mutton, for the pleasure of old friends who like a simple English joint.

R.D.B.

Old Christmas Day, 1896

CONTENTS.

PAGE
[Slain by the Doones]:
I.[After a Stormy Life,]1
II.[By a Quiet River,]12
III.[Wise Counsel,]22
IV.[A Cottage Hospital,]33
V.[Mistaken Aims,]43
VI.[Over the Bridge,]55
[Frida; or, The Lover’s Leap,]69
[George Bowring,]135
[Crocker’s Hole,]203

SLAIN BY THE DOONES.