CHAPTER XXXII : Lightfoot Sees The Stranger Lightfoot the Deer was unhappy . It was a strange unhappiness , an unhappiness such as he had never known before . You see , he had discovered that there was a stranger in the Green Forest , a stranger of his own kind , another Deer . He knew it by dainty footprints in the mud along the Laughing Brook and on the edge of the pond of Paddy the Beaver . He knew it by other signs which he ran across every now and then . But search as he would , he was unable to find that newcomer . He had searched everywhere but always he was just too late . The stranger had been and gone . Now there was no anger in Lightfoot 's desire to find that stranger . Instead , there was a great longing . For the first time in his life Lightfoot felt lonely . So he hunted and hunted and was unhappy . He lost his appetite . He slept little . He roamed about uneasily , looking , listening , testing every Merry Little Breeze , but all in vain . Then , one never-to-be-forgotten night , as he drank at the Laughing Brook , a strange feeling swept over him . It was the feeling of being watched . Lightfoot lifted his beautiful head and a slight movement caught his quick eye and drew it to a thicket not far away . The silvery light of gentle Mistress Moon fell full on that thicket , and thrust out from it was the most beautiful head in all the Great World . At least , that is the way it seemed to Lightfoot , though to tell the truth it was not as beautiful as his own , for it was uncrowned by antlers .
For a long minute XXXXX stood gazing .
Brook Forest Lightfoot Moon Paddy World antlers first footprints night