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.