“It is well, White Tail, that you’ve come back at this time,” she said quietly. “You have heard the news?”
“Yes, I’ve heard it. It is true then—that—that—”
“Yes, my son,” interrupted Father Buck, “I have led my last chase. Never again will the herd follow me. What must come to all of us at some time has befallen me. There is nothing to regret. One and all must face it sooner or later. Why should we not accept it complacently?”
White Tail was surprised, and yet pleased, by the quiet acceptance Father Buck took of his downfall. It softened the load that he was carrying in his own heart.
“I prepared you for it, you remember White Tail,” the old leader continued. “Well, tomorrow they will choose a new leader. They will demand that I step aside. But until then I’m leader, and no one shall dispute that right.”
He rose and shook his huge antlered head, looking for all the world like a leader, and when he bellowed an order every one started. He was not yet deposed. In the next story what happened at the Council Tree will be told.
STORY XIV
Choosing A New Leader
The call for a meeting at the Council Tree was issued to the herd by Father Buck himself. It was his duty to do this, for the law of the herd is that a leader is still in command, and his word must be obeyed, until he has been deposed and another chosen.
White Tail had been twice at the Council Tree before, but never on such a momentous occasion as this. His own initiation into the secrets of the council was nothing compared to the choosing of a new leader. He felt the weight of responsibility that was laid upon him, for the time had come for him to succeed his father or fail forever.
The choosing of a leader did not happen often. Once in a life time was the average. Unless something happened to a leader to cut him down accidentally in the prime of his life, or Puma or Timber pulled him down in the chase, no successor was chosen until he grew too weak and decrepit to lead. The event was, therefore, an important one, and long to be remembered by those who took part in it.