182 With Feet to the Earth 



This is not the usual disposition of the 

 deer, which is to have as little to do with 

 human kind as possible. Once, while canoe- 

 ing on a lonely lake, my brother and I 

 came behind a doe, knee-deep in the water 

 and feeding on lily-pads. As the wind was 

 blowing from her, half a gale of it, she did 

 not scent us, and the cautious dip of our 

 paddles was unheard in the lash and ripple 

 of the waves. Steadying the little craft by 

 a grip on a boulder, we waited, six feet 

 away, until she lazily waded about and 

 looked up. As she caught sight of us she 

 flinched, as under a blow, and stood braced, 

 yet transfixed. Her flanks quivered, her 

 eyes and nostrils were dilated. So we re- 

 mained for some moments, looking at each 

 other. At last, with a leap and a " whoof !" 

 of astonishment, she freed herself from the 

 spell and went bounding ashore and into 

 the woods. The bucks are prodigious 

 jumpers when they are startled or pur- 

 sued. Undergrowth and fallen trunks are 

 nothing to them, and they seldom catch 

 their horns in branches. While I will not 

 swear that I have seen one leap ten feet 



