e Wild Cat are ready
and fearless to attack us. Our only hope of escape is in our fleetness,
since we are watched all day by the cruel eyes of those who live upon
flesh, of whom the most dangerous of all is Man!"

"I know all this," replied Unktomee. "Others may have stronger weapons
than you, but I see none with your beauty, your stately height, your
freedom and ease of life. I beg of you to allow me to share it!"

"If you can pass the test, we will admit you," they said at last.
"Notice our eyes--we must be ever watchful; our ears--they are
constantly on guard! Can you smell an enemy even against the wind? Can
you detect his footfall before he is near?"

Unktomee passed the test and was finally admitted to the company of the
Elks; in fact, he was made the chief of them all, for such he wanted to
be.

"Now," said they, "we have made you our leader. You must guide us so
that we shall be safe from the hunters!"

Proud of his long limbs and of his stately antlers, he led them all down
the hill, running back now and then to urge the hindermost ones into
line. When they stopped to rest, he lay down a little apart from the
others, under a spreading oak.

Suddenly they all sprang up and fled, for Unktomee had cried out to
them:

"Fly! fly! I am struck by an arrow!"

But when no hunter appeared, they were provoked, and grumbled among
themselves:

"Unktomee is deceiving us; it was only a stick that fell from the tree!"

Then they all lay down a second time, and a second time the Elks were
aroused in vain. They were still more displeased, and said to one
another:

"It was only an acorn that fell upon him while he slept!"

A third time they lay down, but this time the Elks stole away from
Unktomee and left him sleeping, for they had scented the hunter. When
the hunter came, therefore, he found only the chief Elk still sleeping,
and he let fly an arrow and wounded him severely.

Unktomee was now in great fear and pain, and he bitterly regretted that
he had become an Elk, for he had learned that their life is full of
anxiety. The Elks had taught him that it is well to be content with our
own, for there is no life that is free from hardship and danger.

ELEVENTH EVENING

THE FESTIVAL OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE

ELEVENTH EVENING

"You are late to-night, my grandchildren," grumbles the good old wife of
Smoky Day, as she stands in front of her low doorway, peering under the
folds of her dark blanket at th