210 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
woman they become so absorbed that they forget 
the woman, which perhaps explains why she re- 
gards the whole matter with indifference. “If 
it wasn’t I, it would be something else they’d fight 
over,” she seems to say. “‘ Meanwhile, this is a 
charming piece of music ”—or “ a delicious sprig 
of hemlock,” if she chances to be a doe. 
But meanwhile it was serious business for the 
two bucks who were fighting so close to her. A 
slip, a wandering glance, a throat exposed, might 
mean death. Gentle creatures, deer? Then you 
never saw two bucks in action! OV Buck and his 
antagonist charged each other once along the 
strip of beach, and as their heads met, their horns 
locked, the watchers at the log cottage across the 
pond distinctly heard the crash of the impact. 
They saw one deer reel, and plunge out into the 
water, pulling his horns away from the grapple. 
He backed in up to his knees, and the other deer 
rushed him again. This time they met with a 
louder crash, and swayed their interlocked heads, 
pushing and thrusting, their muscles rigid, their 
eyes red, their breath hissing. Once more the 
elder deer worked free, and backed off. He was 
