Young Black Buck gathered himself for the short run, and long jump. He knew that he had to take it, and that he had to succeed. He ran with all his might, and then sprang forward in a quick spring.
If it hadn’t been for his nervousness, he certainly would have cleared the chasm without accident, but chagrin, anger and fear had possession of him, and they were responsible for a misstep at the last moment. When his body was launched through the air, he knew that he hadn’t put in the jump all the power he had.
Then too the fear of a failure alarmed him. He glanced down, and saw the terrible chasm yawning below to receive him. This gave his body a side lurch, and instead of clearing the chasm in a beautiful jump his forefeet touched the opposite side only a foot from the edge, and his hind hoofs missed it by an inch.
No one could see the accident so quickly or plainly as White Tail, who stood within a few feet of him. He saw that Young Black Buck was going to miss before his front hoofs touched the embankment.
Now the thought of his missing the rock, and falling to the bottom of the chasm in a broken heap, horrified White Tail so that he forgot all his triumph and desire to win. His greatest desire was to save Young Black Buck from an awful death.
Before he reached the embankment, White Tail jumped to the edge, and quick as a wink stretched forth his head, caught Young Black Buck by a prong of his antlers. He got a good hold with his teeth, and then as the leaping buck’s hind feet slipped down and his body began to sway backward, White Tail braced his feet, and jerked backward with all his strength.
It was enough to overcome the balance of the frightened jumper. Instead of falling backward into the chasm, he stumbled forward, and then catching his hind hoofs on the edge he managed to climb up the embankment.
It was all done so quickly and skilfully that the watchers on the opposite bank hardly knew what had happened. They knew in some way that Young Black Buck had stumbled and nearly fallen in the chasm. They had also seen White Tail reach forward and grab or push him. They couldn’t very well say just what he did.
But Black Buck, seeing that his son had failed, and angry at the thought of White Tail’s triumph, was quick to see a way to change defeat into triumph. Before his son could recover his breath and stop his trembling, Black Buck roared out with all his might:
“Foul! That was a foul! White Tail got in the way, and tried to throw my son off the precipice!”