"He's salting them by this time," s...o...b..ll muttered to himself. "Johnnie Green is salting the sheep. And I'm glad Mr. Crow warned me, for I shouldn't want salt put on my tail. It must be terrible to be caught that way."

"What's that you're saying?" said a lively voice near-by.

s...o...b..ll leaped back; then stood still and stared at a pair of antlers which stuck up from behind a berry bush.

The antlers rose a little higher. And then s...o...b..ll saw the face of Nimble Deer beneath them.

"What were you murmuring about _salt_?" Nimble inquired pleasantly.

"Johnnie Green is salting the sheep over in our pasture," s...o...b..ll explained.

"He is, eh?" cried Nimble Deer. "Then why aren't you there with the rest?"

s...o...b..ll shook his head.

"It's too dangerous," he said. "I don't want salt put on my tail."

Nimble Deer gave him a queer look.

"It is dangerous, while Johnnie Green is there--or it would be dangerous if he had a gun," Nimble admitted. "But what's this you say about salt on your tail?"

"Johnnie Green is putting salt on the tail of every sheep in the flock,"

s...o...b..ll declared.

"That's odd," said Nimble. "I'll have to look into this matter--after Johnnie Green has left the pasture."

s...o...b..ll did not follow Nimble as he moved nearer the stone wall. But he stood still and watched. Presently he saw Nimble leap the wall. After that s...o...b..ll could no longer see him.

It was some time later when Nimble jumped back over the wall and landed lightly on the ledge that ran alongside it. And s...o...b..ll noticed that his face wore a very cheerful look.

"Well?" said s...o...b..ll.

"That was as good salt as I ever tasted," Nimble remarked, running his tongue over his lips. "If you hurry you'll be able to get a taste even now."

"I've never eaten any salt," said s...o...b..ll.

"Then hurry, by all means!" cried Nimble Deer. "You don't know what you're missing."

"Has Johnnie gone?" s...o...b..ll inquired.

"Long ago!"

"I suppose he spilled some of the salt on the ground," said s...o...b..ll.

"You know he's a very careless boy."

"He spilled heaps of it," Nimble Deer replied. "But the sheep are eating it fast."

Well, s...o...b..ll was puzzled. How could the sheep be eating salt if Johnnie Green had caught them? It was more than he could understand. But if Nimble Deer had been with them--and come back safely--there couldn't be any great danger.

So s...o...b..ll hurried over the stone wall and scampered down to the place near the bars, where the flock still lingered.

As s...o...b..ll joined them he saw that they were all busily eating something white that lay in little piles upon the ground.

He tasted of the stuff, carefully. It was delicious. And wasting no more time, he gobbled up all of the salt that he could get.

When it was gone s...o...b..ll turned to old Aunt Nancy Ewe.

"May I lick the salt off your tail?" he asked her politely.

She gave him a haughty stare.

"Have you no respect for your elders?" Aunt Nancy asked him severely.

"Pardon me!" said s...o...b..ll. "Maybe I'm mistaken, but Mr. Crow told me----"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Aunt Nancy Scolded s...o...b..ll

_The Tale of s...o...b..ll Lamb._ _Page_ 48]

"Mr. Crow!" Aunt Nancy cried, before s...o...b..ll could finish. "So it's Mr.

Crow that's been putting queer ideas into your head! I might have known it. After this don't ever listen to him! He's been the means of your almost missing a fine treat--and one that doesn't come every day in the year."

IX

CIRCUS TRICKS

Johnnie Green had been to the circus. And of course he wanted to try a good many tricks that he had learned there. At first he made old dog Spot perform for him. But when he attempted to get Spot to jump through a hoop of fire the old dog refused flatly to play any more.

That was why Johnnie went to the pasture and brought s...o...b..ll Lamb back to the farmyard.

"Now, s...o...b..ll," said Johnnie Green, "I've been to the circus and seen ever so many kinds of trained animals--horses and elephants and dogs and monkeys and seals. But I didn't see any trained lamb. If you pay attention and learn what I try to teach you maybe you and I can join the circus next year."

s...o...b..ll Lamb answered, "_Baa-a-a!_"

"All right!" cried Johnnie. "Now you just jump through this wooden hoop!"

But it didn't prove to be as easy as all that. Johnnie Green had to work a long, long time before he succeeded at last in teaching s...o...b..ll to obey him. And then, after s...o...b..ll jumped through the hoop in as graceful a manner as anybody could have asked for, Johnnie was not quite satisfied.

"You'll have to learn to jump through a paper hoop if we're ever going to be taken along with the circus," he told s...o...b..ll.

Again s...o...b..ll answered, "_Baa-a-a!_"

"All right!" said Johnnie. "I'll make some paper hoops. And to-morrow we'll see what you can do."

So back to the pasture went s...o...b..ll. And into the woodshed went Johnnie Green. There he stayed all the rest of the afternoon, knocking old barrels apart, chopping and sawing and hammering. He laid newspapers down upon the floor and trimmed them neatly with his mother's shears. He made flour paste in the kitchen. And when milking time came he had four fine hoops all covered with newspaper.