“What ye want me to do with it?” ’Lish stood with the creature in his arms, making an interesting study, Nan thought; the tall, lean, angular man in blue shirt, and butternut trousers with the little wide-eyed fawn looking around apprehensively.
“Why, we’ll keep it till it gets well. Couldn’t you do something to its leg, ’Lish? Rub it or bind it up or something? Unc’ Landy always could do things to our animals to cure them.”
“Is its leg broken, do you think?” asked Nan coming nearer the startled fawn.
“No, I guess it ain’t broke. I cal’late it’s jest a little wee mite sprained. Probably it’ll get well of its own accord, but I might rub it with some hoss liniment I got. First-rate for sprains. Use it myself for a lame shoulder. Wal, come along, gals. We’ll take it up to camp and see what she says. I guess I might rig up some sort of paddock if you’re bound to keep it.”
The “she” referred to being Miss Marshall, a conference was had with that lady which ended in a decision to keep the fawn while the camp should be open, and then if it seemed best, to free it. “We’ll adopt it as our mascot,” Miss Marshall told the girls.
“It’ll be as tame as a kitten after while,” said ’Lish. “My brother’s wife’s sister had one, and blamed if the crittur didn’t follow her all over the house. It growed to be right big, horns and all, and one day it ketched a sight of itself in a looking-glass and blamed if it didn’t think it was another buck and put its horns right through the glass; smashed it all to flinders. Susan said she would have to git rid of it after that. She couldn’t hev no sich crittur about the house.”
“But why?” asked Jack.
“Bad luck to hev a looking-glass broke. Didn’t ye ever hear that? Anyway, that’s what she said, so she let the buck out and off it went to the woods. Guess it was jest as well; he’d soon got tired of private life, and would have broke loose some day. They like to range.”
“Was that the last she ever saw of him?” inquired Jack much interested.
“No, he’d come round once in a while, specially in cold weather, and she’d feed him. One time he brought his mate, but that was the last she ever saw of him. Guess he thought after he’d brought his lady to pay her respects, he’d done his duty.”