THE TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL STAG 



they were* Had he not for weeks 

 been holding ready, preparing and 

 hungering for this very sight ! And 

 yet how useless were his prepara- 

 tions; how wholly all his precon- 

 cepts were swept away, and a won- 

 der-stricken 



"Oh-h-h!" went softly from his 

 throat* 



As he stood and gazed, they turned 

 their heads away, though they still 

 seemed to look at him with their 

 great ears, and trotting a few steps 

 to a smoother place, began to bound 

 up and down in a sort of play* They 

 seemed to have forgotten him, and 

 it was bewildering to see the won- 

 derful effortless way in which, by a 

 tiny toe-touch, they would rise six 



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