Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Juliet Sutherland and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[Illustration: Wonderfully handsome was
Lightfoot the Deer.]
LIGHTFOOT THE DEER
BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS
_With Illustrations by_
_HARRISON CADY_
GROSSET & DUNLAP
Publishers New York
_Printed by arrangement with Little, Brown, and Company_
COPYRIGHT 1921 BY THORNTON W. BURGESS
ISBN: 0-448-02741-0 (TRADE EDITION)
ISBN: 0-448-13721-6 (LIBRARY EDITION)
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Dedication
TO THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF OUR
FOUR-FOOTED FRIENDS IN THE GREEN FOREST
WITH THE HOPE THAT THIS LITTLE VOLUME
MAY IN SOME DEGREE AID IN THE
PROTECTION OF THE INNOCENT
AND HELPLESS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I PETER RABBIT MEETS LIGHTFOOT 1
II LIGHTFOOT'S NEW ANTLERS 8
III LIGHTFOOT TELLS HOW HIS ANTLERS GREW 15
IV THE SPIRIT OF FEAR 22
V SAMMY JAY BRINGS LIGHTFOOT WORD 29
VI A GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK 34
VII THE MERRY LITTLE BREEZES HELP LIGHTFOOT 39
VIII WIT AGAINST WIT 44
IX LIGHTFOOT BECOMES UNCERTAIN 49
X LIGHTFOOT'S CLEVER TRICK 53
XI THE HUNTED WATCHES THE HUNTER 58
XII LIGHTFOOT VISITS PADDY THE BEAVER 63
XIII LIGHTFOOT AND PADDY BECOME PARTNERS 68
XIV HOW PADDY WARNED LIGHTFOOT 73
XV THE THREE WATCHERS 78
XVI VISITORS TO PADDY'S POND 83
XVII SAMMY JAY ARRIVES 88
XVIII THE HUNTER LOSES HIS TEMPER 93
XIX SAMMY JAY IS MODEST 97
XX LIGHTFOOT HEARS A DREADFUL SOUND 102
XXI HOW LIGHTFOOT GOT RID OF THE HOUNDS 107
XXII LIGHTFOOT'S LONG SWIM 111
XXIII LIGHTFOOT FINDS A FRIEND 116
XXIV THE HUNTER IS DISAPPOINTED 121
XXV THE HUNTER LIES IN WAIT 126
XXVI LIGHTFOOT DOES THE WISE THING 131
XXVII SAMMY JAY WORRIES 136
XXVIII THE HUNTING SEASON ENDS 141
XXIX MR. AND MRS. QUACK ARE STARTLED 146
XXX THE MYSTERY IS SOLVED 151
XXXI A SURPRISING DISCOVERY 156
XXXII LIGHTFOOT SEES THE STRANGER 161
XXXIII A DIFFERENT GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK 165
XXXIV A STARTLING NEW FOOTPRINT 170
XXXV LIGHTFOOT IS RECKLESS 175
XXXVI SAMMY JAY TAKES A HAND 180
XXXVII THE GREAT FIGHT 185
XXXVIII AN UNSEEN WATCHER 190
XXXIX LIGHTFOOT DISCOVERS LOVE 195
XL HAPPY DAYS IN THE GREEN FOREST 200
ILLUSTRATIONS
Wonderfully handsome was Lightfoot
the Deer. Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
"I don't understand these men creatures,"
said Peter to little Mrs. Peter. 28
"My, but that's a beautiful set of antlers
you have!" 71
"I tell you what it is," said Sammy
Jay to Bobby Coon, "something
has happened to Lightfoot." 143
LIGHTFOOT THE DEER
CHAPTER I
PETER RABBIT MEETS LIGHTFOOT
Peter Rabbit was on his way back from the pond of Paddy the Beaver deep
in the Green Forest. He had just seen Mr. and Mrs. Quack start toward
the Big River for a brief visit before leaving on their long, difficult
journey to the far-away Southland. Farewells are always rather sad, and
this particular farewell had left Peter with a lump in his throat,--a
queer, choky feeling.
"If I were sure that they would return next spring, it wouldn't be so
bad," he muttered. "It's those terrible guns. I know what it is to have
to watch out for them. Farmer Brown's boy used to hunt me with one of
them, but he doesn't any more. But even when he did hunt me it wasn't
anything like what the Ducks have to go through. If I kept my eyes and
ears open, I could tell when a hunter was coming and could hide in a
hole if I wanted to. I never had to worry about my meals. But with the
Ducks it is a thousand times worse. They've got to eat while making that
long journey, and they can eat only where there is the right kind of
food. Hunters with terrible guns know where those places are and hide
there until the Ducks come, and the Ducks have no way of knowing
whether the hunters are waiting for them or not. That isn't hunting.
It's--it's--"
"Well, what is it? What are you talking to yourself about, Peter
Rabbit?"
Peter looked up with a start to find the soft, beautiful eyes of
Lightfoot the Deer gazing down at him over the top of a little hemlock
tree.
"It's awful," declared Peter. "It's worse than unfair. It doesn't give
them any chance at all."
"I suppose it must be so if you say so," replied Lightfoot, "but you
might tell me what all this awfulness is about."
Peter grinned. Then he began at the beginning and told Lightfoot all
about Mr. and Mrs. Quack and the many dangers they must face on their
long journey to the far-away Southland and back again in the spring, all
because of the heartless hunters with terrible guns. Lightfoot listened
and his great soft eyes were filled with pity for the Quack family.
"I hope they will get through all right," said he, "and I hope they will
get back in the spring. It is bad enough to be hunted by men at one time
of the year, as no one knows better than I do, but to be hunted in the
spring as well as in the fall is more than twice as bad. Men are strange
creatures. I do not understand them at all. None of the people of the
Green Forest would think of doing such terrible things. I suppose it is
quite right to hunt others in order to get enough to eat, though I am
thankful to say that I never have had to do that, but to hunt others
just for the fun of hunting is something I cannot understand at all. And
yet that is what men seem to do it for. I guess the trouble is they
never have been hunted themselves and don't know how it feels. Sometimes
I think I'll hunt one some day just to teach him a lesson. What are you
laughing at, Peter?"
"At the idea of you hunting a man," replied Peter. "Your heart is all
right, Lightfoot, but you are too timid and gentle to frighten any one.
Big as you are I wouldn't fear you."
With a single swift bound Lightfoot sprang out in front of Peter. He
stamped his sharp hoofs, lowered his handsome head until the sharp
points of his antlers, which people call horns, pointed straight at
Peter, lifted the hair along the back of his neck, and made a motion as
if to plunge at him. His eyes, which Peter had always thought so soft
and gentle, seemed to flash fire.
"Oh!" cried Peter in a faint, frightened-sounding voice and leaped to
one side before it entered his foolish little head that Lightfoot was
just pretending.
Lightfoot chuckled. "Did you say I couldn't frighten any one?" he
demanded.
"I--I didn't know you could look so terribly fierce," stammered Peter.
"Those antlers look really dangerous when you point them that way.
Why--why--what is that hanging to them? It looks like bits of old fur.
Have you been tearing somebody's coat, Lightfoot?" Peter's eyes were
wide with wonder and suspicion.