“I’m not afraid,” replied White Tail, “and I will accept your challenge if the older ones say it is all right.”
Young Black Buck reported the matter to the leaders, and after a consultation Father Buck announced: “We’re ready to go home, and if Puma is aroused we’ll flee. Perhaps it’s a good plan to give Young Black Buck and White Tail a chance to see Puma. They will be on the lookout for him, and when he appears they can run home. Yes, they must learn some day to meet him, and it is well that it should be today.”
With the consent of the leader of the herd the two young bucks started off into the lower woods to make a complete circuit of Puma’s hunting ground. It was a long, wild run, and they would need all their strength and powers. Father Buck started them off, and they disappeared in the woods like two arrows shot from a bow. What happened to them in the race will be told in the next story.
STORY VI
Downy the Woodpecker Brings Startling News
Swift as the wind, and almost as silently, White Tail and Young Black Buck swept through the low timberland, skirting the edge of Puma’s hunting ground so they could circuit it and return to the starting point. Like two good long-distance runners, neither made an effort to take the lead at first.
It was to be a test of endurance rather than of short sprinting. Silently, side by side, they ran at first, leaping over fallen logs and trees in long graceful jumps, and spurting in sharp bursts of speed where the trail was broad and open.
It was not until they had covered the first mile, that first one and then the other attempted to take the lead. Young Black Buck shot ahead first, taking advantage of an open trail, but a moment later White Tail leaped over a clump of bushes and rushed ahead. Young Black Buck pushed in the lead again at the first opportunity.
Neither took these short spurts seriously, for they indicated nothing. Not until they had covered the second mile did they begin to let out in real earnestness. Black Buck then, to see whether White Tail was beginning to show any strain, rushed ahead, and spread himself out in a long, steady lope.
White Tail kept close behind him until his speed began to slacken, and then to show that he was still fresh and strong he dashed ahead and took the lead. Then followed another mile of hard running. Both bucks were beginning to perspire freely now, and the white lather showed on their flanks.
But neither one was winded or anywhere near the end of their strength. White Tail felt that he could keep up the gait nearly all day. He felt singularly fresh and strong. They had made half the circuit before either could try to outdistance the other.