been touched at the same instant, and
each did its work well. The flash-light printed on the sensitive plate a
picture of a hunter in the act of firing, and the rifle sent a bullet
straight through the photographer's forehead. The Buck saw it all as in
a dream--the white flame of the magnesium powder; the rifle, belching
out its fire and smoke; the camera, silent and harmless, but working
just as surely; the two men, each straining his eyes for a sight of his
game; the water gleaming in the fierce light, and the dark ranks of the
cedars all around. And then, in the tenth of a second, it was all over,
and the Buck was bumping against trees, and stumbling and floundering
over roots, in his dazed haste to get away from this terrifying mystery.
He heard one horrified shout from the hunter, but nothing from the
photographer--and the woods were silent again.

That was the end of the hunting season at the Glimmerglass. With the
hunter's trial for manslaughter, we and the Buck are not concerned; and
there is nothing more to tell except that the next year the owners of
the lands around the lake gave warning that all trespassers would be
prosecuted. They wanted no more such tragedies on their property.

And so the Buck and his sweethearts and his rivals lived in peace,
except that the rivals still quarrelled among themselves, as Nature
meant them to. The Buck had reached his prime, but you are not to
suppose that he began to age immediately afterward. It was long before
his eye was dimmed or his natural force abated; and as the years went
by, with their summers of lily-pads and tender young browse, and their
autumns of beechnuts and fighting and love-making, the broad cloven
track of his split foot was often to be found in the hard, smooth sand
of the beach. Perhaps it is there now. I wish I could go and see.

THE END

[Illustration]

THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY, N.Y.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Duplicate titles were removed.

Page 51, "weasles" changed to "weasels" (frogs, and weasels)

Page 156, "fore-paws" changed to "forepaws" to match rest of usage
(forepaws. He also)

Page 165, "blottod" changed to "blotted" (were all blotted out)

Page 229, "where-ever" changed to "wherever" It was orginally split over
two lines. (woods. And wherever)

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOREST NEIGHBORS***

******* This file should be named 27933.txt