But so powerful had been the great cat’s leap that it did not stop even then, but still clutching the doe, it went sliding and rolling down the hillside till it crashed over a ledge,—and one of the fawns with them.
It was too late to save the others, but the Ranger took the remaining fawn in his arms and carried it home to his children. Thus Dapple, the fawn, became a fellow member of Fuzzy’s household.
The giant cat was crouched along the limb of a fir tree.
CHAPTER VIII
WILD PLAYMATES
HAD the bear cub and the fawn been older, they would never have been friends; but these were both such babies that the little bear much preferred his milk to venison, and the fawn did not know to be afraid.
Their strange friendship might not last, as they grew older, but for the time there was peace between them.
The fawn had to be brought up on a bottle, and the children loved it first for its very helplessness.
As Dapple grew stronger, her long, slim legs developed the most amazing ability to jump. She followed the children around like a pup, for they were the only parents she knew. And if they became separated, she would go leaping after them with great, graceful leaps that carried her straight over the bushes.