The very worst things come to an end at last. No matter how bad a
thing is, it cannot last forever. So it was with the hunting
season for Lightfoot the Deer. There came a day when the law
protected all Deer,--a day when the hunters could no longer go
searching for Lightfoot.
Usually there was great rejoicing among the little people of the
Green Forest and the Green Meadows when the hunting season ended
and they knew that Lightfoot would be in no more danger until the
next hunting season. But this year there was no rejoicing. You
see, no one could find Lightfoot. The last seen of him was when
he was running for his life with two hounds baying on his trail
and the Green Forest filled with hunters watching for a chance to
shoot him.
Sammy Jay had hunted everywhere through the Green Forest. Blacky
the Crow, whose eyes are quite as sharp as those of Sammy Jay,
had joined in the search. They had found no trace of Lightfoot.
Paddy the Beaver said that for three days Lightfoot had not visited
his pond for a drink. Billy Mink, who travels up and down the
Laughing Brook, had looked for Lightfoot's footprints in the soft
earth along the banks and had found only old ones. Jumper the Hare
had visited Lightfoot's favorite eating places at night, but
Lightfoot had not been in any of them.
"I tell you what it is," said Sammy Jay to Bobby Coon, "something
has happened to Lightfoot. Either those hounds caught him and
killed him, or he was shot by one of those hunters. The Green
Forest will never be the same without him. I don't think I shall
want to come over here very much. There isn't one of all the
other people who live in the Green Forest who would be missed as
Lightfoot will be."
Bobby Coon nodded. "That's true, Sammy," said he. "Without
Lightfoot, the Green Forest will never be the same. He never
harmed anybody. Why those hunters should have been so anxious to
kill one so beautiful is something I can't understand. For that
matter, I don't understand why they want to kill any of us.
If they really needed us for food, it would be a different matter,
but they don't. Have you been up in the Old Pasture and asked
Old Man Coyote if he has seen anything of Lightfoot?"
Sammy nodded. "I've been up there twice," said he. "Old Man
Coyote has been lying very low during the days, but nights he has
done a lot of traveling. You know Old Man Coyote has a mighty
good nose, but not once since the day those hounds chased
Lightfoot has he found so much as a tiny whiff of Lightfoot's
scent. I thought he might have found the place where Lightfoot
was killed, but he hasn't, although he has looked for it. Well,
the hunting season for Lightfoot is over, but I am afraid it has
ended too late."