When Paddy the Beaver slapped the water with his broad tail,
making a noise like a pistol shot, Lightfoot understood that this
was meant as a warning of danger. He was on his feet instantly,
with eyes, ears and nose seeking the cause of Paddy's warning.
After a moment or two he stole softly up to the top of a
little ridge some distance back from Paddy's pond, but from the
top of which he could see the whole of the pond. There he hid
among some close-growing young hemlock-trees. It wasn't long
before he saw a hunter with a terrible gun come down to the shore
of the pond.
Now the hunter had heard Paddy slap the water with his broad
tail. Of course. There would have been something very wrong with
his ears had he failed to hear it.
"Confound that Beaver!" muttered the hunter crossly. "If there
was a Deer anywhere around this pond, he probably is on his way now.
I'll have a look around and see if there are any signs."
So the hunter went on to the edge of Paddy's pond and then began
to walk around it, studying the ground as he walked. Presently he
found the footprints of Lightfoot in the mud where Lightfoot had
gone down to the pond to drink.
"I thought as much," muttered the hunter. "Those tracks were made
last night. That Deer probably was lying down somewhere near
here, and I might have had a shot but for that pesky Beaver.
I'll just look the land over, and then I think I'll wait here
awhile. If that Deer isn't too badly scared, he may come back."
So the hunter went quite around the pond, looking into all likely
hiding-places. He found where Lightfoot had been lying, and he
knew that in all probability Lightfoot had been there when Paddy
gave the danger signal.
"It's of no use for me to try to follow him," thought the
hunter. "It is too dry for me to track him. He may not be so
badly scared, after all. I'll just find a good place and wait."
So the hunter found an old log behind some small trees and there
sat down. He could see all around Paddy's pond. He sat
perfectly still. He was a clever hunter and he knew that so long
as he did not move he was not likely to be noticed by any sharp
eyes that might come that way. What he didn't know was that
Lightfoot had been watching him all the time and was even then
standing where he could see him. And another thing he didn't
know was that Paddy the Beaver had come out of his house and,
swimming under water, had reached a hiding-place on the opposite
shore from which he too had seen the hunter sit down on the log.
So the hunter watched for Lightfoot, and Lightfoot and Paddy
watched the hunter.