Then he had begun to hunt in that direction , knowing that thus his scent would be carried behind him . It is more than likely that he would have reached the hiding-place of Lightfoot the Deer before the latter would have known that he was in the Green Forest , had it not been for Sammy Jay 's warning . When he reached the tangle of fallen trees behind which Lightfoot had been hiding , he worked around it slowly and with the greatest care , holding his terrible gun ready to use instantly should Lightfoot leap out . Presently he found Lightfoot 's footprints in the soft ground and studying them he knew that Lightfoot had known of his coming . `` It was that confounded Jay , '' muttered the hunter . `` Lightfoot heard him and knew what it meant . I know what he has done ; he has circled round so as to get behind me and get my scent . It is a clever trick , a very clever trick , but two can play at that game . I 'll just try that little trick myself . '' So the hunter in his turn made a wide circle back , and presently there was none of the dreaded man-smell among the scents which the Merry Little Breezes brought to Lightfoot . Lightfoot had lost track of the hunter . CHAPTER VIII : Wit Against Wit It was a dreadful game the hunter with the terrible gun and Lightfoot the Deer were playing in the Green Forest . It was a matching of wit against wit , the hunter seeking to take Lightfoot 's life , and Lightfoot seeking to save it . The experience of other years had taught Lightfoot much of the ways of hunters and not one of the things he had learned about them was forgotten . But the hunter in his turn knew much of the ways of Deer . So it was that each was trying his best to outguess the other . When the hunter found the hiding-place Lightfoot had left at the warning of Sammy Jay he followed Lightfoot 's tracks for a short distance . It was slow work , and only one whose eyes had been trained to notice little things could have done it . You see , there was no snow , and only now and then , when he had stepped on a bit of soft ground , had Lightfoot left a footprint . But there were other signs which the hunter knew how to read , -- a freshly upturned leaf here , and here , a bit of moss lightly crushed .
These things told the hunter which way XXXXX had gone .
Deer Forest Jay Lightfoot VIII footprint footprints man-smell scents years