marks not easily read, yet Yan knew 

 very soon that the track they were 

 on was not that of the wounded doe, 

 but was surely that of her antlered 

 mate* Back on the trail they ran 

 till they solved the doubt, for there 

 they learned that the Stag, after 

 making his own escape, had come 

 back to change off : an old, old trick 

 of the hunted whereby one deer will 

 cleverly join on and carry on the line 

 of tracks to save another that is too 

 hard pressed, while it leaps aside to 

 hide or fly in a different direction* 

 Thus the Stag had sought to save 

 his wounded mate, but the hunters 

 remorselessly took up her trail and 

 gloated like wolves over the slight 

 drip of blood* Within another short 



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