LIGHTFOOT IS RECKLESS
In his search for the new stranger who had come to the Green Forest,
Lightfoot the Deer was wholly reckless. He no longer stole like a gray
shadow from thicket to thicket as he had done when searching for the
beautiful stranger with the dainty feet. He bounded along, careless of
how much noise he made. From time to time he would stop to whistle a
challenge and to clash his horns against the trees and stamp the ground
with his feet.
After such exhibitions of anger he would pause to listen, hoping to
hear some sound which would tell him where the stranger was. Now and
then he found the stranger's tracks, and from them he knew that this
stranger was doing just what he had been doing, seeking to find the
beautiful newcomer with the dainty feet. Each time he found these signs
Lightfoot's rage increased.
Of course it didn't take Sammy Jay long to discover what was going on.
There is little that escapes those sharp eyes of Sammy Jay. As you know,
he had early discovered the game of hide and seek Lightfoot had been
playing with the beautiful young visitor who had come down to the Green
Forest from the Great Mountain. Then, by chance, Sammy had visited the
Laughing Brook just as the big stranger had come down there to drink.
For once Sammy had kept his tongue still. "There is going to be
excitement here when Lightfoot discovers this fellow," thought Sammy.
"If they ever meet, and I have a feeling that they will, there is going
to be a fight worth seeing. I must pass the word around."
So Sammy Jay hunted up his cousin, Blacky the Crow, and told him what he
had discovered. Then he hunted up Bobby Coon and told him. He saw Unc'
Billy Possum sitting in the doorway of his hollow tree and told him. He
discovered Jumper the Hare sitting under a little hemlock-tree and told
him. Then he flew over to the dear Old Briar-patch to tell Peter Rabbit.
Of course he told Drummer the Woodpecker, Tommy Tit the Chickadee, and
Yank Yank the Nuthatch, who were over in the Old Orchard, and they at
once hurried to the Green Forest, for they couldn't think of missing
anything so exciting as would be the meeting between Lightfoot and the
big stranger from the Great Mountain.
Sammy didn't forget to tell Paddy the Beaver, but it was no news to
Paddy. Paddy had seen the big stranger on the edge of his pond early the
night before.
Of course, Lightfoot knew nothing about all this. His one thought was
to find that big stranger and drive him from the Green Forest, and so he
continued his search tirelessly.