ad rested on a bed of
soft hay in an open shed and had watched this man going about his
work and taking the utmost care to do nothing to frighten Lightfoot.

"He not only will let no one else harm me, but he himself will not
harm me," thought Lightfoot. "As long as he is near, I am safe.
I'll stay right around here until the hunting season is over, then
I'll swim back across the Big River to my home in the dear Green Forest."

So all afternoon Lightfoot rested and did not so much as put his
nose outside that open shed. That is why the hunter got no glimpse
of him. When it became dark, so dark that he knew there was no
longer danger, Lightfoot got up and stepped out under the stars.
He was feeling quite himself again. His splendid strength had returned.
He bounded lightly across the meadow and up into the brushy
pasture where the hunter had been hidden. There and in the woods
back of the pasture he browsed, but at the first hint of the coming
of another day, Lightfoot turned back, and when his friend, the farmer,
came out early in the morning to milk the cows, there was Lightfoot
back in the open shed. The farmer smiled. "You are as wise as you
are handsome, old fellow," said he.

CHAPTER XXVII: Sammy Jay Worries

It isn't often Sammy Jay worries about anybody but himself.
Truth to tell, he doesn't worry about himself very often. You see,
Sammy is smart, and he knows he is smart. Under that pointed cap
of his are some of the cleverest wits in all the Green Forest.
Sammy seldom worries about himself because he feels quite able to
take care of himself.

But Sammy Jay was worrying now. He was worrying about Lightfoot
the Deer. Yes, Sir, Sammy Jay was worrying about Lightfoot the
Deer. For two days he had been unable to find Lightfoot or any
trace of Lightfoot. But he did find plenty of hunters with
terrible guns. It seemed to him that they were everywhere in the
Green Forest. Sammy began to suspect that one of them must have
succeeded in killing Lightfoot the Deer.

Sammy knew all of Lightfoot's hiding-places. He visited every one
of them. Lightfoot wasn't to be found, and no one whom Sammy met
had seen Lightfoot for two days.

Sammy felt badly. You see, he was very fond of Lightfoot.
You remember it was Sammy who warned Lightfoot of the coming of
the hunter on the morning when the dreadful hunting season began.
Ever since the hunting season had opened, Sammy had done his
best to make troubl