Leap Year

'God would never have designed such a species.'

So says Seamus Butler of his famous fall-goats, the result of the genetic strain which his father had inadvertently bred on this Settlers family's farm. For these goats have an inborn fault which makes them worth their weight in gold: when startled, the keel over instantly in a dead faint. Thus a single fall-goat placed among a flock of sheep becomes the only prey when an enemy strikes, leaving the flock unharmed.