At last Mr. Quack felt that not even to gratify his curiosity would it be safe to wait longer.  He prepared to spring into the air, knowing that Mrs. Quack would follow him.  It was just then that a funny little sound reached him.  It was half snort, half cough, as if some one had sniffed some water up his nose.  There was something familiar about that sound.  Mr. Quack decided to wait a few minutes longer.

“I’ll wait,” thought Mr. Quack,” until that thing, whatever it is, comes out of those Black Shadows into the moonlight.  Somehow I have a feeling that we are in no danger.”

So Mr. and Mrs. Quack waited and watched.  In a few minutes the thing that looked like the branch of a tree came out of the Black Shadows into the moonlight, and then the mystery was solved.  It was a mystery no longer.  They saw that they had mistaken the antlers of Lightfoot the Deer for the branch of a tree.  Lightfoot was swimming across the Big River on his way back to his home in the Green Forest.  At once Mr. and Mrs. Quack swam out to meet him and to tell him how glad they were that he was alive and safe.

CHAPTER XXXI:  A Surprising Discovery

Probably there was no happier Thanksgiving in all the Great World than the Thanksgiving of Lightfoot the Deer, when the dreadful hunting season ended and he was once more back in his beloved Green Forest with nothing to fear.  All his neighbors called on him to tell him how glad they were that he had escaped and how the Green Forest would not have been the same if he had not returned.  So Lightfoot roamed about without fear and was happy.  It seemed to him that he could not be happier.  There was plenty to eat and that blessed feeling of nothing to fear.  What more could any one ask?  He began to grow sleek and fat and handsomer than ever.  The days were growing colder and the frosty air made him feel good.

Just at dusk one evening he went down to his favorite drinking place at the Laughing Brook.  As he put down his head to drink he saw something which so surprised him that he quite forgot he was thirsty.  What do you think it was he saw?  It was a footprint in the soft mud.  Yes, Sir, it was a footprint.

For a long time Lightfoot stood staring at that footprint.  In his great, soft eyes was a look of wonder and surprise.  You see, that footprint was exactly like one of his own, only smaller.  To Lightfoot it was a very wonderful footprint.  He was quite sure that never had he seen such a dainty footprint.  He forgot to drink.  Instead, he began to search for other footprints, and presently he found them.  Each was as dainty as that first one.

Who could have made them?  That is what Lightfoot wanted to know and what he meant to find out.  It was clear to him that there was a stranger in the Green Forest, and somehow he didn’t resent it in the least.  In fact, he was glad.  He couldn’t have told why, but it was true.