`` I 'll find out whether or not that hunter is still following me and I 'll get a little rest . Goodness knows , I need a rest . '' Lightfoot bounded away swiftly and ran for some distance , then he turned and quickly , but very , very quietly , returned in the direction from which he had just come but a little to one side of his old trail . After a while he saw what he was looking for , a pile of branches which woodchoppers had left when they had trimmed the trees they had cut down . This was near the top of a little hill . Lightfoot went up the hill and stopped behind the pile of brush . For a few moments he stood there perfectly still , looking and listening . Then , with a little sigh of relief , he lay down , where , without being in any danger of being seen himself , he could watch his old trail through the hollow at the bottom of the hill . If the hunter were still following him , he would pass through that hollow in plain sight . For a long tune Lightfoot rested comfortably behind the pile of brush . There was not a suspicious movement or a suspicious sound to show that danger was abroad in the Green Forest . He saw Mr. and Mrs. Grouse fly down across the hollow and disappear among the trees on the other side . He saw Unc ' Billy Possum looking over a hollow tree and guessed that Unc ' Billy was getting ready to go into winter quarters . He saw Jumper the Hare squat down under a low-hanging branch of a hemlock-tree and prepare to take a nap . He heard Drummer the Woodpecker at work drilling after worms in a tree not far away . Little by little Lightfoot grew easy in his mind . It must be that that hunter had become discouraged and was no longer following him . CHAPTER XI : The Hunted Watches The Hunter It was so quiet and peaceful and altogether lovely there in the Green Forest , where Lightfoot the Deer lay resting behind a pile of brush near the top of a little hill , that it did n't seem possible such a thing as sudden death could be anywhere near . It did n't seem possible that there could be any need for watchfulness . But Lightfoot long ago had learned that often danger is nearest when it seems least to be expected .
So , though he would have liked very much to have taken a nap , XXXXX was too wise to do anything so foolish .
Billy Forest Grouse Hunter Lightfoot XI hemlock-tree left watchfulness woodchoppers