ere big and rounded, like knobs. They were not like
antlers at all, and they made my head hot and were very
uncomfortable. That is why I hid away. They grew very fast, so
fast that every day I could see by looking at my reflection in
water that they were a little longer. It seemed to me sometimes
as if all my strength went into those new antlers. And I had to
be very careful not to hit them against anything. In the first
place it would have hurt, and in the second place it might have
spoiled the shape of them.

"When they had grown to the length you now see, they began to
shrink and grow hard. The knobs on the ends shrank until they
became pointed. As soon as they stopped growing the blood stopped
flowing up in them, and as they became hard they were no longer
tender. The skin which had covered them grew dry and split, and I
rubbed it off on trees and bushes. The little rags you see are
what is left, but I will soon be rid of those. Then I shall be
ready to fight if need be and will fear no one save man, and will
fear him only when he has a terrible gun with him."

Lightfoot tossed his head proudly and rattled his wonderful
antlers against the nearest tree. "Isn't he handsome," whispered
Peter to Jumper the Hare; "and did you ever hear of anything so
wonderful as the growing of those new antlers in such a short
time? It is hard to believe, but I suppose it must be true."

"It is," replied Jumper, "and I tell you, Peter, I would hate to
have Lightfoot try those antlers on me, even though I were big as
a man. You've always thought of Lightfoot as timid and afraid,
but you should see him when he is angry. Few people care to face
him then."

CHAPTER IV: The Spirit Of Fear

When the days grow cold and the nights are clear,
There stalks abroad the spirit of fear.
--Lightfoot the Deer.

It is sad but true. Autumn is often called the sad time of the
year, and it is the sad time. But it shouldn't be. Old Mother
Nature never intended that it should be. She meant it to be the
GLAD time. It is the time when all the little people of the
Green Forest and the Green Meadows have got over the cares and
worries of bringing up families and teaching their children how
to look out for themselves. It is the season when food is
plentiful, and every one is fat and is, or ought to be, care
free. It is the season when Old Mother Nature intended all her
little people to be happy, to have nothing