64 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



underbrush, and a doe sprang out, with a low 

 bleat as she saw the home log. At sight of me 

 she stopped short, trembling violently, her ears 

 pointing forward like two accusing fingers, an 

 awful fear in her soft eyes as she saw her little 

 ones with her arch-enemy between them, his 

 hands resting on their innocent necks. Her body 

 swayed away, every muscle tense for the jump; 

 but her feet seemed rooted to the spot : she could 

 not move, could not believe. Then as I waited 

 quietly, trying to make my eyes say all kinds of 

 friendly things, the harsh ' Ka-a-a-h ! Ka-a-a-h ! ' 

 the danger cry of the deer, burst like a thunder 

 blast through the woods, and she leapt back to 

 cover." 



He got them back at last to their hiding place, 

 and presently the doe returns. 



"She bleated softly; the hemlock curtain was 

 thrust aside, and the little ones came out . . . 

 she rushed up to them, dropped her head, and 

 ran her keen nose over them, ears to tail and 

 down their sides and back again to be sure, and 

 sure again, that they were her own little ones and 

 were not harmed." 



The rest of the story of these two little fawns 

 can only be told in a few words. Though they 

 looked alike at the first glance, it was soon found 

 out that there is just as much difference in fawns 

 as there is in folks. One of them was wise and 

 the other foolish. One followed in the footsteps 

 of his mother and was happy, the other came to 

 grief because he followed his own wilful way, and 



