THE TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL STAG 



was his foe, and down it came that 

 day and wiped out every trace* 



The next day and the next still 

 found Yan careering in the hills, but 

 never a track or sign did he see* And 

 the weeks went by, and many a roll- 

 ing mile he ran, and many a bitter 

 day and freezing night he passed in 

 the snow-clad hills, sometimes on a 

 deer-trail but more often without; 

 sometimes in the barren hills, and 

 sometimes led by woodmen's talk to 

 far-off sheltering woods, and once or 

 twice he saw indeed the buff- white 

 bannerets go floating up the hills. 

 Sometimes reports came of a great 

 buck that frequented the timber-lands 

 near the sawmill, and more than 



once Yan found his trail, but never 

 28 



