“Ah! That is the sad part of it,” sighed Father Buck. “But you must know. I will show you.”
Just what he meant will appear in the next story.
STORY II
Father Buck’s Failure
Father Buck walked across the brook again, and took his place on the rock from which the jump was made. White Tail immediately concluded he was going to show him how much farther he could jump when he was a young buck.
“I know you will beat me,” White Tail said. “But if you do, won’t you give me another chance?”
“Yes, if such a miracle should happen,” was the reply.
White Tail stood eagerly watching, while his father crouched as he had for the spring. How noble he looked with his big antlered head, with streaks of gray and white hair curling around the roots! White Tail was proud of him.
Suddenly Father Buck rushed forward, hesitated at the brink to get a good purchase with his hoofs, and then up in the air and straight across his body shot. White Tail watched him with gleaming eyes.
Then something happened which startled him. The spring had not been as powerful as he thought, for instead of beating White Tail’s mark, or reaching his own, Father Buck missed the shore by a foot. His hind legs actually splashed in the water.
“What happened?” exclaimed White Tail in amazement. “Did you slip, or—or—”