miles about
every backwoods sportsman began to dream of winning those noble
antlers.

[Illustration: "WHEN HE STOPPED TO DRINK AT THE GLASSY POOL."]

The last farm of the settlement toward the northwest, where the road
leads off over wooded dips and rises to the valley of the turbulent
Ottanoonsis, belonged to an old bachelor farmer named Ramsay. This farm
the red buck seemed to have selected for his special and distinguished
attention. He loved Ramsay's bean-fields and his corn-patch. He loved
his long, sea-green turnip rows. He loved even the little garden before
the kitchen window, where he easily learned to like cabbages and
cucumbers and tried vainly to acquire a taste for onions and
peppergrass. The visits to the garden were invariably paid when Ramsay
was away at the crossroads store or during the dark hours of those
particular nights when Ramsay slept soundest. The gaunt old farmer vowed
vengeance, and kept his long-barrelled duck gun loaded with buckshot,
and wasted many days lying in wait for the marauder or following his
trail through the tumbled, sweet-smelling autumn woods of Ringwaak. At
last, however, though his desire for vengeance had by no means
slackened, the grim old farmer woodsman began to take a certain pride in
his adversary's prowess, along with a certain jealous apprehension lest
those daring antlers should fall a trophy to some other gun than his.
When the buck would perpetrate some particularly audacious depredation
on the corn or cabbages, Ramsay's first burst of wrath would be
succeeded by something akin to respectful appreciation. He would pull
his scraggy and grizzled chin with his gnarled fingers contemplatively,
and a twinkle of understanding humour would supplant the anger in his
shrewd, blue, woods-wise eyes as he stood surveying the damage. Such an
antagonist was worth while, and Ramsay registered a vow that that fine
hide should keep him warm in winter, those illustrious antlers adorn no
other walls but his.

But there were many others who had similar views as to the destiny of
the great Ringwaak buck, whose fame by the opening of his fourth season
had spread far beyond the limits of the Ringwaak settlements. Late in
the fourth autumn a couple of new settlers on the lower river decided to
make a trip up to Ringwaak and try their luck. They had heard of the big
buck's craft in foiling the trailers, of his almost inspired sagacity in
avoiding ambuscade. But they were prepared to p