326 Trails to Woods and Waters 



fawns come, the proud buck loses his horns. 

 Then his pride leaves him, and he goes away 

 into the deep woods and nurses his new horns 

 until they are quite well grown, and it is not 

 until he has polished and rubbed them for 

 several months that they are ready for the 

 battle." 



" That is a good story, Ben," I said when 

 he had finished, " but I guess it is a make- 

 believe." 



" You ask the buck if losing his horns is a 

 make-believe, and I think he will tell you 

 quite different." 



" You don't know how it was that the par- 

 tridge learned to drum, Ben?" I asked. I 

 felt quite sure that if Ben didn't know, he 

 would think up some ingenious way for ac- 

 counting for it. 



My companion refilled his pipe and pulled 

 thoughtfully at it for several minutes before 

 making reply. " Nothing polishes up my 

 memory like a full pipe," he said at last. 



" I didn't seem to remember just how it 

 was at first, but I guess I have recollected. 



