htfoot walked
on a few steps, and the man followed, still talking softly.
Little by little he urged Lightfoot on, driving him towards an
open shed in which was a pile of hay. Without understanding just how,
Lightfoot knew that he had found a friend. So he entered
the open shed and with a long sigh lay down in the soft hay.

CHAPTER XXIV: The Hunter Is Disappointed

How he knew he was safe, Lightfoot the Deer Couldn't have told you.
He just knew it, that was all. He couldn't understand a word
said by the man in whose yard he found himself when he climbed
the bank after his long swim across the Big River. But he didn't
have to understand words to know that he had found a friend.
So he allowed the man to drive him gently over to an open shed where
there was a pile of soft hay and there he lay down, so tired that
it seemed to him he couldn't move another step.

It was only a few minutes later that the hunter who had followed
Lightfoot across the River reached the bank and scrambled out of
his boat. Lightfoot's friend was waiting just at the top of the
bank. Of course the hunter saw him at once.

"Hello, Friend!" cried the hunter. "Did you see a Deer pass this
way a few minutes ago? He swam across the river, and if I know
anything about it he's too tired to travel far now. I've been
hunting that fellow for several days, and if I have any luck at
all I ought to get him this time." "I'm afraid you won't have any
luck at all," said Lightfoot's friend. "You see, I don't allow
any hunting on my land."

The hunter looked surprised, and then his surprise gave way to
anger. "You mean," said he, "that you intend to get that Deer
yourself."

Lightfoot's friend shook his head. "No," said he, "I don't mean
anything of the kind. I mean that that Deer is not to be killed
if I can prevent it, and while it is on my land, I think I can.
The best thing for you to do, my friend, is to get into your
boat and row back where you came from. Are those your hounds
barking over there?"

"No," replied the hunter promptly. "I know the law just as well
as you do, and it is against the law to hunt Deer with dogs.
I don't even know who owns those two hounds over there."

"That may be true," replied Lightfoot's friend. "I don't doubt
it is true. But you are willing to take advantage of the fact
that the dogs of some one else have broken the law. You knew
that those dogs had driven that Deer into the Big River and you