H FOLLOWING 
THE DEER 
136 
WINTER 1TRAILS 
r-? 
4 
that was after him. Just as the long 
shadows were stretching across all the 
valleys from hill to hill, and the sun 
vanished into the last gray bank of 
clouds on the horizon, my deer re- 
crossed the old road, leaping it, as in 
the morning, so as to leave no telltale 
track, and climbed the hill to the dense 
thicket where they had passed the pre- 
vious night. 
Here was my last chance, and I 
studied it deliberately. The deer were 
there, safe within the evergreens, I had 
no doubt, using their eyes for the open 
hillside in front and their noses for the 
woods behind. It was useless to at- 
tempt stalking from any direction, for 
the cover was so thick that a fox could 
