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Tale of Snowball Lamb

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<h2>XVI</h2><h3>AUNT NANCY'S PLAN</h3> All was quiet once more, after the race from the ledge near Uncle Jerry Chuck's home. The flock was feeding again. And if you hadn't noticed how Aunt Nancy Ewe puffed from her fast running you wouldn't have supposed there had just been a wild scramble over the stone wall and back. Aunt Nancy was still feeling sorry for Uncle Jerry Chuck, whose rest had been disturbed by the thud of hoofs above his head. "Remember!" she said to Snowball sternly. "Don't go near Uncle Jerry's home again!"[85] "I won't!" he promised. "That is," he added, "I won't if I can help it. If I find myself running that way I may not be able to stop myself." Now, that sort of promise wasn't enough for Aunt Nancy. "You must turn aside!" she told Snowball. "Just make believe that there's a bear beyond the stone wall, instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck! Then—" she said—"then you'll turn quickly enough!" "That's a good idea!" cried Snowball. "If only I don't forget it!" Aunt Nancy's words never left his mind all the rest of the morning. Just thinking about bears made Snowball frightfully uneasy. Whenever one of the flock happened to stray up behind him Snowball jumped, fearing for a moment that it was a bear. If anybody said baa in his ear he leaped[86] to one side, expecting the baa to turn into a woof! He began to wish that Aunt Nancy hadn't told him of her idea. And all at once, when somebody came up behind him and gave him a nudge, Snowball started to run. "There's a bear behind me!" he thought. <div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-002.jpg" width-obs="257" height-obs="400" alt="Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat." title="Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat." /> Snowball Gave A Frantic Blat. The Tale of Snowball Lamb. Page 87 </div> Of course the rest of the flock thought he was only playing Follow My Leader. So they followed him, every one of them. Snowball went bounding across the pasture towards the stone wall, headed straight for the spot where Uncle Jerry Chuck had his home. When he was only a few jumps away from the wall he glanced back. He saw then that there was no bear behind him. But he did notice Aunt Nancy Ewe, doing her best to keep up with the rest. And then Snowball re[87]membered what she had said to him. If a bear—instead of Uncle Jerry Chuck—lived in the hole at the foot of the ledge! Well, that thought was enough to make Snowball swerve sharply to his right. And a few moments later he bobbed over the wall a little further up the hillside. Just beyond the wall grew a tangle of berry bushes. And into the midst of them Snowball jumped. And out of the midst of them, right in front of him, there rose up on his hind legs—a bear! Snowball gave a frightened, frantic blat. The next instant he was scrambling back over the wall. The foremost of the oncoming flock of sheep saw him. They couldn't think what had happened. Anyhow, they couldn't stop. Close behind them pressed the flock, all bunched together and hurrying blindly on.[88] <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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