“No,” Rose answered, “I didn’t look for him.”

“I saw him,” said Tom, the hired man.  “He went over that way,” and he pointed across the brook.

“Do you mean over to Strawberry Hill?” asked Russ, for so they had come to call the place where the wild red berries grew.

“Well, yes, I s’pose you might say towards Strawberry Hill,” replied Tom.

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.

“He won’t run at us,” said the smaller boy, who seemed to have thought it all out.  “We haven’t got anything red on, and he only runs at you if you have red on.  Anyhow, if he does, we can give him some sugar and that will make him like us.”

“Yes, I guess it will,” agreed Russ.

With Laddie holding the bag of sweet stuff, the two boys walked toward the sheep.  They were eating grass, but soon some of the woolly creatures noticed the two little fellows and stopped eating to walk toward them.

“Here they come!” exclaimed Russ.  “Get the sugar ready, Laddie.  And there comes the old ram over from the other side of the field.  Save some sugar for him.”

“I will,” Laddie said.  Then he poured some of the sugar out from the bag on the ground, and the sheep began to nibble at it.

I am not sure whether sheep like sugar better than salt or not.  I should think they might, and yet salt on some things is better than sugar would be.  I wouldn’t like my roast chicken with sugar on it, but I do like it with salt.  Anyhow, the sheep licked up the sugar that Laddie sprinkled on the grass for them.

“Let me give ’em some!” begged Russ, and he reached for the bag.  Just how it happened the boys did not know, but the bag was knocked from Laddie’s hand, and the rest of the sugar was spilled out on the ground.  More sheep came up and soon all began eating it.