The two others had gone quartering off at right angles to his
course, obeying his signal promptly, but having as yet no idea of
what danger followed them. When alarmed in this way, deer never
run far before halting to sniff and listen. Then, if not
disturbed, they run off again, circling back and down wind so
as to catch from a distance the scent of anything that follows on
their trail.

I sat still where I was for a good hour, watching the chickadees
and red squirrels that found me speedily, and refusing to move
for all the peekings and whistlings of a jay that would fain
satisfy his curiosity as to whether I meant harm to the deer, or
were just benumbed by the cold and incapable of further mischief.
When I went on I left some scattered bits of meat from my lunch
to keep him busy in case the deer were near; but there was no
need of the precaution. The two had learned the leader's lesson
of caution well, and ran for a mile, with many haltings and
circlings, before they began to feed again. Even then they moved
along at a good pace as they fed, till a mile farther on, when,
as I had forelayed, the buck came down from a hill to join them,
and all three moved off toward the big ridge, feeding as they
went.

Then began a long chase, a chase which for the deer meant a
straightaway game, and for me a series of wide circles--never
following the trail directly, but approaching it at intervals
from leeward, hoping to circle ahead of the deer and stalk them
at last from an unexpected quarter.

Once, when I looked down from a bare hilltop into a valley where