He had been given several minutes grace in which to meditate upon the unwisdom of defiance; and he had seen the bug-killer change abruptly from sullenness to terror, and afterward to abject obedience.

He did not know what they had said to him, or what they had done; but he knew the bug-killer was a hard man to stampede.

And he was one man, and they were many; also he judged that, being human, and this being the third offense of the Dot sheep under his care, it would be extremely unsafe to trust that their indignation would vent itself in mere words.
Therefore, when Weary told him to get the stragglers back through the fence and up on the level, he stopped only long enough for a good look at their faces.

After that he called his dogs and crawled through the fence.
It really did not require the entire Family to force those sheep south that morning.

But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did not definitely request any man to turn back, and every fellow there was minded to see the thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the trailing two thousand--and never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a convoy.
After the first few miles the way grew rough.