Tired as I was, I took a last run to see from the trail how it
all happened. The deer had been standing just within the thicket
as I approached. All three had seen the handkerchief; the tracks
showed that they had pawed the snow and moved about nervously.
When the leader whistled they had bounded straightaway down the
steep on the other side. But the farms lay in that direction, so
they had skirted the base of the hill, keeping within the fringe
of woods and heading back for their morning trail, till the red
flag caught their eye again, and strong curiosity had halted them
for another look.

Thus the long hunt ended at twilight within sight of the spot
where it began in the gray morning stillness. With marvelous
cunning the deer circled into their old tracks and followed them
till night turned them aside into a thicket. This I discovered at
daylight next morning.

That day a change came; first a south wind, then in succession a
thaw, a mist, a rain turning to snow, a cold wind and a bitter
frost. Next day when I entered the woods a brittle crust made
silent traveling impossible, and over the rocks and bare places
was a sheet of ice covered thinly with snow.

I was out all day, less in hope of finding deer than of watching
the wild things; but at noon, as I sat eating my lunch, I heard a
rapid running, crunch, crunch, crunch, on the ridge above me. I
stole up, quietly as I could, to find the fresh trails of my
three deer. They were running from fright evidently, and
were very tired, as the short irregular jumps showed. Once, where