" He then
refreshed himself with a mighty pinch of snuff, closing his box with a
snap that emphasized his air of complete conviction.
I think the sheep-dipper was one of the early arrivals. He brings with
him an apparatus which provides a bath, and a kind of gangway, rising
at an angle from it, upon which the sheep can stand after immersion,
to allow the superfluous liquid to find its way back into the bath;
each sheep is lifted by two men into the bath containing insecticide,
and has an interval for dripping before it rejoins the flock. In the
days when Viper was young, he was introduced to the process and given
a dip himself, much to his disgust; but that was the only time, for
ever afterwards no sooner did the sheep-dipper and his weird-looking
apparatus appear at night, in readiness for the performance on the
morrow, than Viper remembered his undignified experience, and, before
even the overture of the play commenced, vanished for the day. Nobody
saw him go, or knew where he went, but it was useless to call or
whistle, he was nowhere to be found.
I believe the active ingredient of the dip was a preparation of
arsenic, and upon one occasion I lost several sheep after the dipping,
presumably from arsenical poisoning absorbed through the skin. I met
the dipper a few days later, and he said with a beaming face that he
had "given 'em summat," meaning the parasites.
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