red buck, who, when the snow began to
get deep, selected a sunny slope where groves of thick spruce were
interspersed with clumps of young poplar and birch. Hither he led his
little herd, and here he established his winter quarters, treading out
paths from grove to grove and from thicket to thicket, so that even when
the snow lay from four to five feet deep the herd could move about
freely from one feeding-place to another. The memory of all this fixed
itself securely in the recesses of the little buck's brain, to serve him
in good stead in later winters.

When at last the snow vanished and the hillside brooks ran full and
loud, and spring, with her cool colours and fresh scents, was in full
possession of Ringwaak, the little herd scattered. The old doe stole off
by herself one day when he was not noticing, and the yearling found
himself left solitary. For a few days he was lonely and spent much of
his time looking for his mother. Then, being of self-reliant disposition
and very large and vigorous for his age, and well endowed with the joy
of life, he forgot his loss and became pleasantly absorbed in the
wilderness world of Ringwaak, with its elations, and satisfactions, and
breathless adventures, and thrilling escapes. That autumn he grew
pugnacious, and get more than one thrashing from full-grown bucks whom
he was so foolhardy as to offend. But his defeats were the best kind of
instruction, and he was growing both in strength and stature beyond the
ordinary custom of his kind. By the time another winter and another
summer had gone over him he was ready to wipe out all past humiliations.
When he stopped to drink at the glassy pool which lies in a granite
pocket half-way up the western slope of Ringwaak he saw a reflection of
the most redoubtable buck on all that range, and when the other bucks
responded to his challenge they one after another met defeat. That
winter, when he established his yard and trod out his range of paths
among the birch and poplar thickets, he had three does and two fawns
under his leadership.

During the next two years he became famous throughout the settlements.
Every one had heard of the big buck who was so bold about showing
himself when no one was ready for him, but so crafty in eluding the
hunters. He was seen from time to time in the pastures with the cattle,
but never when there was a gun within reach. On many a field of earing
grain he stamped the broad defiance of his ravages, till for