Spotted Deer

“ Weak and aged arms grew strong with emotion, and Spotted Deer staggered beneath the violence of the attack. Some of the women jabbed viciously at his eyes with their sticks. Some of the infuriated old men kicked savagely at his legs. ”

“ For the moment Running Fox felt helpless to solve the mystery of Spotted Deer's strange disappearance. His one hope was that Spotted Deer was still alive.
"My friends, I will tell you how I feel about this thing," said Yellow Wolf. "Spotted Deer has disappeared. We have found his canoe. Something bad must have happened to him. Dancing Owl saw the Mohawks in this place. He did not see Spotted Deer in their canoes. Painted Hawk and Crooked Foot and Turning Eagle are good scouts. They have found many tracks over here. Turning Eagle says there was a prisoner here. ”

“ That was bad. A warrior does not throw away his paddle. Now we have found this canoe. It was turned over. There is a hole in it. I believe something bad has happened to Spotted Deer."
"Listen," cautioned Running Fox.
At that moment they heard the call of Woakus, the fox, somewhere in the vicinity of the spot where they had left Painted Hawk and his companions. In a few moments the signal was repeated. Then it sounded the third time. The Delawares looked at one another in surprise. Had their friends found signs of Spotted Deer on the other side of the river? It seemed impossible. ”

“ Spotted Deer traveled through the woods with great discomfort. Unable to use his arms, he was powerless to protect himself from contact with tree trunks and undergrowth. A guard led him through the darkness, but made no attempt to save him from the stinging blows from branches which were released by the warriors in advance. Several times Spotted Deer barely escaped having his eyes destroyed. Once he stumbled over a log and fell headlong into the undergrowth. His guard seized the opportunity to attack him. ”

“ It makes us feel strong. You have fastened this Medicine Thing around my neck. You say it will help me. I will keep it. Now we are going to find our brother Spotted Deer."
They immediately left the lodge. As they appeared in the village they were surrounded by a great company of friends who were eager to warn and advise. Running Fox refused to loiter.
"My friends, we cannot stop here to talk," he told them. "If the Mohawks have carried off Spotted Deer we must travel fast to come up with them. There is little time. We must go."
A few moments later they left the village and went to the river. ”

“ Red Dog will cross this ridge. He will come along a steep trail that comes down from the top of the ridge. Two great warriors will come with him. They are Many Beavers and Striking Bear. They are very brave. When those warriors come to the Shawnee village, Spotted Deer must die. If they do not come, perhaps I can help him. Now you know about it. I have finished."
"My friend, you have spoken big words," said Running Fox. "I do not know who you are but my heart is good toward you. I believe you are trying to help us. It is good." ”

“ Yellow Wolf asked, in amazement.
"A Delaware does what he tells a friend he will do," declared Running Fox. "A good friend helped us to save Spotted Deer. If we do not let the Shawnees go, much harm may come upon that friend. Perhaps she will be killed. I have told her we will let the great chief Big Dog go to his people. We have found our brother Spotted Deer. It is what we set out to do. Getanittowit sent the Mystery Woman into that camp to help us. She has done a big thing. Now we must listen to her words. She says if Big Dog does not come back it will be bad for her. ”

“ The heavy forest offered a splendid hiding place, and they determined to remain there until daylight. The night passed without alarm, and at dawn they crossed the stream. Then they again set out along the trail.
"We must look sharp," cautioned Running Fox. "Perhaps scouts have stayed behind to watch. If they see us they will run to their people. Then they will kill Spotted Deer."
They saw nothing to arouse their suspicions, and at sunset they stopped at a little spring in the bottom of a wooded ravine. They soon found signs which made it plain that their foes had spent the night at that place. ”

“ As his captors led him toward the village they began to sing, and Spotted Deer knew that they were giving a boastful recital of their exploit. In the meantime a company of men and boys were hurrying forward to meet them. They were followed by a large pack of dogs. The Shawnee leader stationed himself beside the captive. Spotted Deer was astonished when he was addressed in his own dialect.
"Delaware, we have brought you to our village," the Shawnee told him. "Our people are waiting for you. They are very mad. Perhaps they will kill you." ”

“ They realized that only daylight could give them a clew to the mystery.
"Well, I see that we feel different about this thing," Running Fox told them. "There is no use of talking any more. We must wait until the light comes. Then we will go and look sharp at those tracks. If they tell us that Spotted Deer was taken away by the Shawnees, we will know what to do. If we cannot tell about it then we must separate. Some of us must go to the Mohawk village. Some of us must try to follow the people who walked away. ”

“ We have done what we came to do. Now we must try to get back to our people before something bad happens to us."
"Yes, my brothers, we must keep going," declared Crooked Foot. "I believe the Shawnees will try hard to turn us back."
The reckless scramble down the rough hillside was a severe ordeal for Spotted Deer. The slope was strewn with bowlders and tree trunks, and a dense tangle of brush and vines concealed the pitfalls. Spotted Deer stumbled painfully over the obstructions, striving heroically to conceal his agony. Running Fox, however, was keenly aware of his suffering. ”

“ Like the fallow deer, it produces spotted fawns, which are brought forth in the spring, and change their colour to that of the deer itself in the first winter. About the month of November they gather into herds, and remain together until April, when they separate, the females secreting themselves to bring forth their young.
“The long-tailed deer is often found in wooded countries; though its favourite haunts are not amid the heavy timber of the great forests, but in the park-like openings that occur in many parts of the Rocky Mountain valleys. ”

“ Few shed antlers, therefore, are seen by visitors to the park.
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Mule deer are common. The fawns, born in early June, are spotted when young.
Male bighorn display the horns that have made them famous.
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In summer, mule deer are seen singly or in small groups, browsing in the higher country; like the elk, they descend into the lower meadows in autumn. They, too, find the winter difficult, because of limited range. Deer are browsing animals, eating such things as willow, aspen, antelope bitterbrush, and even pine needles. ”

“ Deer give beautiful animation to the forests, harmonizing finely in their color and movements with the gray and brown shafts of the trees and the swaying of the branches as they stand in groups at rest, or move gracefully and noiselessly over the mossy ground about the edges of beaver meadows and flowery glades, daintily culling the leaves and tips of the mints and aromatic bushes on which they feed. There are three species, the black-tailed, white-tailed, and mule deer; the last being restricted in its range to the open woods and plains to the eastward of the Cascades. ”

“ With this purpose, the deer will often make enormous leaps, or run around in a circle so as to confuse and puzzle his pursuers. He will mount a stone wall, and run along it for some distance, well aware that the dog cannot scent him so well on the rock as on the grass. If he can find a pond or stream of water, the deer will plunge in and swim a long distance, so that the dogs may lose his trail.
It is a joyful sound to the poor hunted deer when the dogs send up that sad, dismal howl, which they give utterance to when they have lost all scent of the deer, and despair of finding it. ”

“ By the same token was revealed his past prowess: only an animal that had surpassed in all the wiles of hunting and self-preservation could live to attain such a growth. But to-night—the deer had fled from him before he ever got within leaping range.
The wind had been right, the thickets had hidden his advance, the magic and the thrill of the hunting hour had been upon him. No human ear could have discerned his approach on the winding trail. But the difficulty lay in the fact that the deer have not human ears, but rather marvelous receivers as sensitive as the antennæ of a wireless outfit. ”

“ Another is a well-marked species, on account of the length of its tail—whence it has received its hunter appellation of the Long-tailed Deer.
The Deer of Europe are not numerous in species; but if we consider the large herds shut up in parks, they are perhaps as plentiful in numbers as elsewhere, over a like extent of territory.
The Reindeer and Elk, as already stated, are both indigenous to Europe; so also the Stag or Red Deer, the greatest ornament of our parks. The red deer runs wild in Scotland, and in most of the great forests of Europe and Asia. ”

“ In many places the hills are covered with an almost impenetrable chaparral of scrub oak, buckthorn, greasewood, manzanita, and deer-brush, in which the wary deer have taken refuge. In and through these, guided sometimes by the tracks of the deer, or encouraged by the presence of such tracks even if he cannot follow them, up steep mountains, exposed to the heat of the sun, in dust, over rocks, and without water, toils the hunter, who accounts himself lucky if, by tramping scores of miles through this sort of impediment, he succeeds, after days of toil, in killing his deer. ”

“ In these sportive amusements the tame deer gradually draws his prey within musquet shot of the hunter. With a well managed deer, one is able to seize his companion alive; a cord is hung upon the horns of the former, which, in their play, he entangles in the horns of his adversary. From that time the greater the efforts made by the wild deer to escape, the closer the running knot is drawn, and the more strongly the tame deer pulls at the cord, in order to give his master time to come up. It frequently happens however that the wild deer suspects the trick, and escapes the danger by flight. ”

“ The mother keeps them in a quiet place where she thinks the hunters and dogs cannot get them; for men often hunt the wild deer. It is a great pity to kill them for sport, is it not?
HOW FLEET HE IS!
The deer hears quickly, and his scent is very keen too. When the hunters are after him, how fleet he is! Sometimes he leaps into the water and swims. Then the dogs lose the scent and cannot follow him. The male deer sheds his horns every year.
When the horns are growing they look as if they were covered with velvet.
HAVE THEY NO LANGUAGE?
EVERYBODY’S DOG. ”

“ The fawns when found very young in the woods are generally full of playfulness and curiosity; and a fawn that has lost its mother will turn to a man quicker than to any other animal. When deer see you for the first time, no matter how [257] old or young they are, they approach cautiously, if you do not terrify them by sudden motions, and in twenty pretty ways try to find out what you are. Like most wild animals that have a keen sense of smell, and especially like the bear and caribou, they trust only their noses at first. ”

“ His sense of hearing is extremely acute. His nose, too, is a keen one, and he often scents the hunter, and makes off long before the latter has got within sight or range. It is necessary in “still” hunting to leave the dog at home; unless, indeed, he be an animal trained to the purpose.
Another species of hunting is “trailing” the deer in snow. ”

“ The dogs, the servants, the sportsmen are now rushing forward to the spot. The hunter who has shot it is congratulated on his skill or good luck, and the chase begins again in some other part of the woods.
A few lines of explanation may be required to convey a clear idea of this mode of hunting. Deer are fond of following and retracing paths which they have formerly pursued, and continue to do so even after they have been shot at more than once. These tracks are discovered by persons on horseback in the woods, or a Deer is observed crossing a road, a field, or a small stream. ”

“ In this way we cross-cut a good deal of country, and one or the other is likely to come upon or rout out a buck. With great caution we progress very quietly, searching every bit of cover, peering at every fallen log, where deer often lie, standing to scrutinize every conspicuous twig in anticipation that it may be horns. Does, of course, we see in plenty. So carefully do we approach that often we have come up within ten yards of female deer. Once Compton sneaked up on a doe nursing her fawn. ”

“ White-tail deer are greatly attached to particular localities, and when undisturbed, confine their wanderings within very narrow limits. Even if thoroughly frightened, and driven to a considerable distance, they soon return. If an old white-tail buck is run [Pg 142] with dogs, he may make a long chase, and cover a wide stretch of country, but to-morrow he will probably be found in his old home. In the same way, mule deer, mountain sheep, white goats, and antelope show their attachment for localities, and unless persistently disturbed, wander but little. ”

“ The Deer is heard coming. It has inadvertently cracked a dead stick with its hoof, and the dogs are now so near 472 that it will pass in a moment. There it comes! How beautifully it bounds over the ground! What a splendid head of horns! How easy its attitudes, depending, as it seems to do, on its own swiftness for safety! All is in vain, however; a gun is fired, the animal plunges and doubles with incomparable speed. There he goes! He passes another stand, from which a second shot, better directed than the first, brings him to the ground. ”