Lightfoot the Deer

It was a queer partnership, that partnership between Lightfoot and Paddy, but it was a good partnership.  They had been the best of friends for a long time.  Paddy had always been glad to have Lightfoot visit his pond.  To tell the truth, he was rather fond of handsome Lightfoot.  You know Paddy is himself not at all handsome.  On land he is a rather clumsy-looking fellow and really homely.  So he admired Lightfoot greatly.  That is one reason why he proposed that they be partners.

Lightfoot himself thought the idea a splendid one.  He spent that night browsing not far from Paddy’s pond.  With the coming of daylight he lay down in a thicket of young hemlock-trees near the upper end of the pond.  It was a quiet, peaceful day.  It was so quiet and peaceful and beautiful it was hard to believe that hunters with terrible guns were searching the Green Forest for beautiful Lightfoot.  But they were, and Lightfoot knew that sooner or later one of them would be sure to visit Paddy’s pond.  So, though he rested and took short naps all through that beautiful day, he was anxious.  He couldn’t help but be.

The next morning found Lightfoot back in the same place.  But this morning he took no naps.  He rested, but all the time he was watchful and alert.  A feeling of uneasiness possessed him.  He felt in his bones that danger in the shape of a hunter with a terrible gun was not far distant.

But the hours slipped away, and little by little he grew less uneasy.  He began to hope that that day would prove as peaceful as the previous day had been.  Then suddenly there was a sharp report from the farther end of Paddy’s pond.  It was almost like a pistol shot.  However, it wasn’t a pistol shot.  It wasn’t a shot at all.  It was the slap of Paddy’s broad tail on the surface of the water.  Instantly Lightfoot was on his feet.  He knew just what that meant.  He knew that Paddy had seen or heard or smelled a hunter.

It was even so.  Paddy had heard a dry stick snap.  It was a very tiny snap, but it was enough to warn Paddy.  With only his head above water he had watched in the direction from which that sound had come.  Presently, stealing quietly along towards the pond, a hunter had come in view.  Instantly Paddy had brought his broad tail down on the water with all his force.  He knew thatLightfoot would know that that meant danger.  Then Paddy had dived, and swimming under water, had sought the safety of his house.  He had done his part, and there was nothing more he could do.