If it gave one flop that way, it would slide down the hole straight back into the water; and between me and the fish stood our cross old Shropshire ram.

I always looked to see if the sheep were in the meadow before I went to the creek, but that morning I had been so crazy to get something for mother to eat, I never once thought of them--and there it stood! That ram hadn't been cross at first, and father said it never would be if treated right, and not teased, and if it were, there would be trouble for all of us.

I was having more than my share that minute, and it bothered me a lot almost every day.

I never dared enter a field any more if it were there, and now it was stamping up and down the bank, shaking its head, and trying to get me; with one flop the fish went ALMOST in the hole, and the next a little away from it.
Everything put together, I thought I couldn't stand it.

I never wanted anything as I wanted that fish, and I never hated anything as I hated that sheep.