AN UNSEEN WATCHER
As Lightfoot the Deer and the big stranger from the Great Mountain
fought in the little opening near the pond of Paddy the Beaver, neither
knew or cared who saw them. Each was filled fully with rage and
determined to drive the other from the Green Forest. Each was fighting
for the right to win the love of Miss Daintyfoot.
Neither of them knew that Miss Daintyfoot herself was watching them. But
she was. She had heard the clash of their great antlers as they had
come together the first time, and she had known exactly what it meant.
Timidly she had stolen forward to a thicket where, safely hidden, she
could watch that terrible fight. She knew that they were fighting for
her. Of course. She knew it just as she had known how both had been
hunting for her. What she didn't know for some time was which one she
wanted to win that fight.
Both Lightfoot and the big stranger were handsome. Yes, indeed, they
were very handsome. Lightfoot was just a little bit the bigger and it
seemed to her just a little bit the handsomer. She almost wanted him to
win. Then, when she saw how bravely the big stranger was fighting and
how well he was holding his own, even though he was a little smaller
than Lightfoot, she almost hoped he would win.
That great fight lasted a long time. To pretty Miss Daintyfoot it seemed
that it never would end. But after a while Lightfoot's greater size and
strength began to tell. Little by little the big stranger was forced
back towards the edge of the open place. Now he would be thrown to his
knees when Lightfoot wasn't. As Lightfoot saw this, he seemed to gain
new strength. At last he caught the stranger in such a way that he threw
him over. While the stranger struggled to get to his feet again,
Lightfoot's sharp antlers made long tears in his gray coat. The stranger
was beaten and he knew it. The instant he succeeded in getting to his
feet he turned tail and plunged for the shelter of the Green Forest.
With a snort of triumph, Lightfoot plunged after him.
But now that he was beaten, fear took possession of the stranger. All
desire to fight left him. His one thought was to get away, and fear gave
him speed. Straight back towards the Great Mountain from which he had
come the stranger headed. Lightfoot followed only a short distance. He
knew that that stranger was going for good and would not come back.
Then Lightfoot turned back to the open place where they had fought.
There he threw up his beautiful head, crowned by its great antlers, and
whistled a challenge to all the Green Forest. As she looked at him, Miss
Daintyfoot knew that she had wanted him to win. She knew that there
simply couldn't be anybody else so handsome and strong and brave in all
the Great World.