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 an angry five seconds they stood glaring at each other, then they had fled in opposite directions as fast as their feet and legs could carry them. They had seen enough of each other for all time.

During the fourth open season, Red Buck had been very wary, so he had returned to the Great Bear Swamp at the first sound of shotguns, and had escaped for that year.

Now in his fifth year, five days before the open season, he was the largest, proudest buck in the Berkshires, a king among the Virginia deer of New England. Much is said and written about four hundred pound bucks hut they are rarely seen. Red Buck was a prize that any hunter might well have been proud of. He probably weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds, which is a very large buck. His coat was a glossy, reddish brown, with the red predominating, so that in some lights he really looked red. He was deep-chested and powerful. His hind quarters were heavy, and the muscles on his rump were wonderful to look upon.