corresponded perfectly with the boot tracks of Old Wally. There
were a few deer here, undoubtedly, which he was watching
jealously for his own benefit in the fall hunting.

When the next still, misty night came, it found me afloat on the
lonely little pond with a dark lantern fastened to an upright
stick just in front of me in the canoe. In the shadow of the
shores all was black as Egypt; but out in the middle the outlines
of the pond could be followed vaguely by the heavy cloud of woods
against the lighter sky. The stillness was intense; every
slightest sound,--the creak of a bough or the ripple of a passing
musquash, the plunk of a water drop into the lake or the snap of
a rotten twig, broken by the weight of clinging mist,--came to
the strained ear with startling suddenness. Then, as I waited and
sifted the night sounds, a dainty plop, plop, plop! sent the
canoe gliding like a shadow toward the shore whence the sounds
had come.

When the lantern opened noiselessly, sending a broad beam of
gray, full of shadows and misty lights, through the even
blackness of the night, the deer stood revealed--a beautiful
creature, shrinking back into the forest's shadow, yet ever drawn
forward by the sudden wonder of the light.

She turned her head towards me, and her eyes blazed like great
colored lights in the lantern's reflection. They fascinated me; I
could see nothing but those great glowing spots, blazing and
scintillating with a kind of intense fear and wonder out of the
darkness. She turned away, unable to endure the glory any longer;
then released from the fascination of her eyes, I saw her