Free Old Drumble by Jack Lasenby

rest of his body. He stared at Minnie’s eyes and went to take another step forward.
    “Who do you think you’re staring at, Jack Jackman?” Minnie stamped like one of the ewes that Jack had seen try to stand up to Old Drumble’s stare. Next moment, Jack knew, she’d baa, whirl, and run like an old ewe. He frowned, put all his power into his eye, took another step straight towards her, and Minnie Mitchell leapt forward and pulled his nose.
    “Don’t you look at me like that, Jack Jackman. What do you think you’re doing?”
    It took a lot of explaining, and Jack felt very uncomfortable under Minnie’s accusing stare, but Harry managed to convince her that Jack was just trying to be an eye dog, working sheep with his strong eye. Minnie got the idea quickly; she worked Harry back through his gate and shut it behind him; then she turned her strong eye on to Jack and said he’d better get home unless he wanted his nose pulled again.
    As he trotted home, Jack looked back and saw Minnie staring after him. He would have tried barking at her, but she got the idea first and barked at him, and Jack turned and scampered up the top end of Ward Street. Somehow, things hadn’t gone quite right.
    “You’ve got a face as long as my arm,” said his mother. “What’s the matter now?”
    “Me’n Harry Jitters were playing eye dogs.”
    “Harry Jitters and I!”
    “I was playing eye dogs with Harry Jitters, and I backed him through his gate, and Minnie Mitchell come out and pulled my nose.”
    “Came out. What did you do to make a nice girl like Minnie do that?”
    “Nothing. I was just eyeing her, to make her go back inside her gate.”
    “Well, I don’t blame Minnie. No girl wants to be stared at as if she’s a sheep and backed through her gate.”
    “Yes, but suddenly she turned into an eye dog and backed Harry through his gate, and then she turned into a huntaway and pulled my nose and told me it was time I was getting home unless I wanted my nose pulled again. And when I looked back, she barked at me. Girls don’t know how to play.”
    His mother grinned. “And you put your tail between your legs and ran home?”
    Jack looked down and shuffled.
    “You’d better start learning that’s no way to treat a girl. The idea! Staring at her, and backing her through her gate.”
    “But I didn’t. She eyed me, same as you do. Then she turned into a huntaway and barked at me. You can’t be a heading dog and a huntaway all at once. Everybody knows that.”
    “Well, next time you’d better bark first. Now, wash your hands. Before I know where I am, your father will be home expecting his lunch to be on the table.”
    They were eating lunch, when Jack’s father said, “Your friend Minnie Mitchell barked at me, just now, as I rode past her place.”
    “She thinks she’s smart, but she doesn’t know the difference between a heading dog and a huntaway. Girls never play fair.”
    “As I ride back to work,” said his dad, “I’ll bark at her, before she can bark at me.”
    “That’s what I’ll do, too,” said Jack. “Would you bark at her real loud, Dad?”

Chapter Sixteen
    Why Jack’s Father Barked,
What His Mother Thought About Having
Strong Ears, and Ten Bob on the
Two-Year-Old’s Nose.
    “A RE MY EARS DECEIVING ME ? Barking at girls! You’ll do nothing of the sort, my lad,” said his mother. “And what sort of example do you think you’re setting the boy? You’ll be giving the top end of Ward Street a bad name, the pair of you.
    “Jack, if you’ve finished playing around with your lunch, you can go out and pick up all the leaves under the cabbage tree. I don’t want to see a single one on the lawn.
    “And, as for you, talking of barking at a little girl, isn’t it time you got back to your work before the whistle blows?”
    Mr Jackman grinned at Jack, said goodbye to his wife, and got on his bike. As he went out the gate, he winked at Jack under the cabbage tree, barked once, and Jack barked