a dainty deer track. It was fresh, 

 not more than two hours old, 

 and there were staler tracks of the 

 same animal, probably made yester- 

 day, showing that it was staying 

 in this locality. 



Nimrod was full of suppressed ex- 

 citement. My lips formed the magic 

 word "fantail?" and the answering 

 nod expressed "I really begin to 

 think so!" 



Then he pointed to another set of 

 tracks, a little smaller, of same type 

 and wrote on his note book for me to 

 see, "May be buck and doe." 



To track them was out of the 

 question, I was too lame, so making 

 ourselves as comfortable as possible 

 we prepared to wait for the return 

 of the track-makers. They would al- 

 most surely come back, but possibly 

 notfor several hours, toward evening. 

 The Cap'n went back to the horses, 

 for the cold lunch provided against 

 such a contingency, and Nimrod 

 explored the adjacent woods, always 

 silently and within sight. 



In the woods there are no electric 

 bells with someone at the other end 

 in case of emergency, and as you 



