DEER IN SUMMER. 51 



the position, and yet if questioned I could 

 not have positively asserted that I had any 

 reason for my opinion at all. Certainty does 

 not always depend upon proofs that can be 

 explained. A secret judgment exists in the 

 mind and acts on perceptions too delicate to 

 be registered. I was certain it was a stag, 

 and the glass at once confirmed my eyes. 



He was standing in the fern beside a 

 bush with his head down as if feeding. The 

 great oak woods were about him, above and 

 below, and the sunlight fell on the golden 

 red of his coat. A whistle — the sound was 

 a moment or two reaching him — made him 

 lift his head, and the upright carriage of the 

 neck proved again that it was a stag and 

 not a hind. His antlers had not yet risen 

 as high as his ears. Another whistle — he 

 lifted his head yet higher but did not move, 

 for he knew he was safe. The whistle 

 sounded to him faint across the hollow 

 space, and his keen eyes and still keener 

 nostrils assured him that there was no 



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