l, and put his nose into it
here and there to be sure it was not polluted. Then--another of his
endless devices to make the noonday siesta full of contentment--he
followed the back track a little way, stepping carefully in his own
footprints; branched off on the other side of the trail, and so circled
swiftly back to join his little flock, leaving behind him a sad puzzle
of disputing tracks for any novice that might follow him.

So the interesting chase went on all day, skill against keener cunning,
instinct against finer instinct, through the white wonder of the winter
woods, till, late in the afternoon, it swung back towards the starting
point. The deer had undoubtedly intended to begin their yard that day
on the ridge I had selected; for at noon I crossed the trail of the
two from the haystack, heading as if by mutual understanding in that
direction. But the big buck, feeling that he was followed, cunningly
led his charge away from the spot, so as to give no hint of the proposed
winter quarters to the enemy 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 recrossed 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 previous 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 attempt stalking from any direction, for the cover was so
thick that a fox could hardly creep through without alarming ears far
less sensitive than a deer's. Skill had failed; their cunning was too
much for me. I must now try an appeal to curiosity.

I crept up the hill flat on my face, keeping stump or scrub spruce
always between me and the thicket on the hilltop. The wind was in my
favor; I had only their eyes to consider. Somewhere, just within the
shadow, at least one pair were sweeping the back track keenly; so I
kept well away from it, creeping slowly up till I rested behind a great
burned stump within forty yards of my game. There I fastened a red
bandanna handkerchief to a stick and waved it slowly above the stump.

Almost instantly there was a snort and a rustle of bushes in the thicket
above me. Peeking out I saw the evergreens mov