was
very still. Across the barrens a faint tinge of green appeared upon the
horizon, spreading outward like a great fan across the sky, changing
from green to violet and from violet to pink, while great flaming
streamers spread upward to the zenith, pulsating as if with life. It was
a magnificent display of the Northern Lights and the little herd stood
like black statues in the glow.

There they remained, staring out across the vast expanse of snow, until
suddenly the buck threw up his head and stamped a warning. Immediately
the herd came to attention; then, silent as shadows, they turned and
vanished along their sheltering paths--all save Brown Brother. Alert but
curious, he paused to see for himself what had alarmed the leader. The
next moment a lean, tawny beast launched itself toward him and only his
extreme quickness saved his life. Like the wind he fled down the path in
the direction which the herd had taken, the hungry panther close behind.
Upon rounding a corner, he gave a sudden leap which carried him over the
intervening wall of snow into the next path, where after several
turnings he found the rest of the herd and knew that he was safe. The
panther paused, bewildered, at the spot where the trail ended abruptly
and the fugitive seemed to have vanished into thin air. He sniffed
hungrily about, then turned and slunk back the way he had come, his
stomach still empty and his temper boding ill for any unfortunate whose
trail he might cross.

As the long winter dragged on, food became more scarce. The ground had
been cropped clean of lichens and moss and it was necessary to reach
high for the balsam twigs. The doe and fawns would have fared ill had
not the buck helped them by bending down the higher branches which only
he could reach. As it was, their sides grew lean and their skin hung
loosely upon them. In March the big buck shed his antlers, leaving them
lying upon the snow where the fawns sniffed curiously at them.

At length the cold was broken, and when the drifts began to shrink
together and fill the streams to overflowing, the herd left the yard,
glad to be free once more. The buck, shorn of his lordly headdress,
craved solitude and wandered away by himself. Soon afterward the doe,
too, disappeared, leaving the fawns to shift for themselves. Though
lonely at first, they soon recovered their spirits and rejoiced in the
freedom of the woods after the narrow confines of the yard, and in the
abundance of foo