in the face of Providence to let such a
bloodthirsty young gintleman in among the poor cratures with a gun in
his hands."

Hal joined in the laugh at his expense and then added rather lamely:

"We might run across that silver fox."

"And we might jump over the moon. The one is as likely as the other,"
retorted Pat.

So the guns were left at the cabin. Pat led the way straight to the
ridge on which Spud Ely had missed his first chance to get a buck in the
fall, but instead of climbing the ridge worked along the foot of it,
skirting a swamp. They followed the edge of this for some distance and
then abruptly turned into it. The growth was dense in places, with
thickets of young hemlocks which afforded both warmth and shelter in
severe weather. Almost at once they came to a deeply trodden path which
led them presently to a maze of paths running in all directions.

"Here we are," said Pat.

Sparrer's face was a study. "Where's de yard?" he asked.

"All around here," replied Pat with a comprehensive sweep of his arm,
"wherever you see these paths." Then, a sudden light breaking over him,
he added, "Did you expect to find a fence around it, son?"

Sparrer grinned, not at all embarrassed by the general laugh and
perfectly willing to confess his ignorance. "All de yards ever Oi seen
had fences round 'em. Oi thought a fence was what made a yard," he
confessed.

"Not a deer yard," replied Pat. "A deer yard is a place where the deer
tramp out paths in the snow and spend the winter. It is made where they
get both shelter and food. When the first deep snow comes they collect
in such a place and start the paths while browsing for food. Then as the
snow gets deeper they follow the same paths because it is easier going,
and make new paths only when they have to to reach new food supplies. By
continually using these paths they keep them open and manage to pick up
a living browsing on twigs and pawing down to the ground moss. By the
time the heaviest snows come they can't very well get out if they want
to, especially when there is a crust like this. You see some of those
paths are two to three feet deep. The more plentiful the feed and the
smaller the herd the smaller the yard. Before there were any laws to
protect deer and moose they used to be slaughtered in the yards by
trappers and lumber jacks because it is no trick at all for a man on
snow-shoes to run them down. Once get them frightened so that they break
out of the yar