the hours seem short, is a famous and extensive playground; and how few take advantage of this fine health-giving land! Truly, visitors at Eastbourne walk or drive up to Beachy Head, because it is one of the things to do, and so they 'do' it accordingly; but the rest of the downs are given up to their own desolation; and, save for occasional shepherds and their flocks, appear as lifeless and deserted as though they were some far-off moors in Northern Britain out of the shooting season. And here my notes

come to an end.

Old Inn Sign The Half-Moon.'

CHAPTER X.

A Southdown Shepherd-Shepherding-A Smuggling Dodge-Eastbourne An Uninteresting Bit of Road-Signboards-Old InnsCurious Titles-History in a Signpost-Pevensey Castle-Roman Masonry-Local Legends-A Level Land-Country Gentlemen and their Parks--Hurstmonceaux Castle-A Grand GatewayVandalism-A Ghostly Drummer-Haunted?-Curious Coincidences A Lord Hanged for Poaching-Prodigious Pumpkins-A New Way of Distinguishing One's Name.

THE shadows around us were gradually lengthening, the west was growing a pale amber; and as we had yet some distance to travel before we should reach Eastbourne (our night's destination) we felt that it was time to take our departure, for we had no desire to be belated upon those lonely downs. So somewhat reluctantly we proceeded on our way.

At the last crest of the uplands we came upon an old shepherd leading his flock homeward--for his flock was following him, he was not driving them. They were slowly, sleepily, creeping along, stopping now and again to nibble a last mouthful of the sweet herbage.

The low-lying sun was just dipping behind the

purple heights, and a gleam of golden light rested upon him and the tops of the sheep, making them all stand out powerfully against the grey gloom of the shadowed valley, the warmth of the tints being enhanced by the cool, dark, colourless background. It was as though one of Millet's pictures had stepped out of its frame, and we were gazing upon it.

As the shepherd trudged wearily along, little heeding the spreading loveliness around, we asked him what he thought of the weather for the morrowthis as an excuse for a chat, for these shepherds are always ready to talk about the weather, it is their one never-failing topic of conversation. Then from the weather we led him on to other subjects. He had, he said, six hundred sheep, more or less, under his care, he could not say exactly how many, as some stray away and get lost. They used to lose many more when he was a young man; then sheep 'wur oftener stolen than lost,' for when the smugglers flourished in these parts, they would help themselves to one or more occasionally, but that was only when they were hard up; and the farmers knew what they had to put up with, and calculated for such losses accordingly. But the smugglers were not such a bad lot; when they were in luck, and had successfully run in a cargo, a keg or two of spirits somehow found its way to the farmers' cellars, and 'they never had any need to buy tobaccy.' So putting one thing with another, our informant thought they had not much to grumble at, though it was annoying now and then to find a sheep missing without ever as much as asking your leave.'

A SOUTH DOWN SHEPHERD

་

183

Then we asked about his dog. 'What sort of a dog is he?' 'Well, he's a cross of some sort wi' a Scotch collie; he's not a bad 'un as dogs go, but he's not a patch to his mother. Things these times are not as good as they used to be, leastways so it seems to me,' he remarked pathetically. 'See this crook, it is not half as good as my old 'un, and it cost me twice as much as my fayther paid for his'en; that were a real Pyecombe crook, but they don't make the like now. Look at this, it's not a right shape at all, but her was the best I could get.' But,' we said-and by our remark displayed our rueful ignorance of shepherding-it is only for ornament is it? and it looks well enough.' Whereupon he exclaimed, in a tone of surprise that we should not know better, 'Of course it's for use I want it; do you think I'd carry a thing like this about to look at? Why, how 'ud I get hold of a sheep without a crook?' And as we could not answer the question, he gave us a practical illustration of its use. Stretching suddenly out the long pole, he caught a poor unfortunate sheep with the hooked end, by its hind leg, and thus held it for a time. We observed that the crook was irregular in form, not the neat, gracefully shaped article that artists invariably make such in their paintings.

Then for our special benefit he ordered his dog to collect the sheep together and bring them on to the road. His instructions were given by a series of shouts, but which, though worse than Greek to us, for we could not comprehend a word, were perfectly understood by the despised animal. The

intelligent creature, with a bark of delight at the
prospect of a good scamper, set off at once, and,
running round and round the sheep in an ever
narrowing circle, managed in a short time to get
them together into a fairly compact mass; then he
drove them on to the roadway as bidden. Upon
seeing which, we ventured to remark that it appeared
to us the dog was a treasure, and that we thought,
however perfect his mother might have been, she
could hardly have done more or better. Ay, sir,
but
you
don't understand shepherding; he's too eager
and fast, he blows the sheep, and it's a bad thing for
sheep to get blown-fact is, he's a precious deal too
fond of his work.' Here was a new fault to us, and
an exceedingly rare one, we should imagine; at any
rate, I have never as yet come across the craftsman
who was too fond of his work.' 'You see, sir,' he
continued, 'I can't get on without a dog, but I've to
watch that creature as well as the sheep. I can't leave
him, or he'd be after 'em, chasing the lot all over the
place, and then my master 'ud be at I. He don't
know how to keep quiet, that's the worst of him.'
'Perhaps when he grows older he will know better,'
we remarked. Maybe, sir, but I haven't much
hopes of him; but I must have a dog of some sort.
You see, we gets over a lot of ground in a week; six
hundred sheep eats up a quantity of stuff, and the
grass don't grow over fast on these dry downs; so
we've to keep on changing our pasturage-always on
the move--and there be no hedges or fences to keep
the sheep in ; and if it weren't for the dog, where should
I be? It's not in fine weather we has the trouble,