THE TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL STAG 



He had never seen one like it before, 

 but it gave him a thrill, for he knew 

 at once it was the track of a wild deer. 

 44 There are no deer in those hills 

 now/' the settlers told Yan. Yet 

 when the first snow came that au- 

 tumn he, remembering the hoof- 

 mark in the mud, quietly took 

 down his rifle and said to himself, 

 44 1 am going into the hills every day 

 till I bring out a deer," Yan was a 

 tall, raw lad in the last of his teens. 

 He was no hunter yet, but he was a 

 tireless runner, and filled with unflag- 

 ging zeal Away to the hills he 

 went on his quest day after day, and 

 many a score of long white miles he 

 coursed, and night after night he re- 

 turned to the shanty without seeing 



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