Bambi answered. "Are you going to call a gathering?"

"Tonight," he said. "I think Man will again try and get up in the hills and try and chase us again onto the meadow where they will kill us. I think I know a way to stop them."

"How" Bambi wanted to know?

When you took me to the top of the hill we saw the other forest, but you also showed me the trees up there. If we get the deer up there, there are enough trees to hide in. There is also food up there in the open space we can use at night. Man will find it difficult to get behind us to chase us."

Bambi looked at him for a second and then nodded. "It may work, it is better than getting chased and then killed."

"You think it is worth a try?" he asked.

"Yes," came the simple reply. "That is something not even my Father tried. You are different Stranger."

"Father," he heard Stena call.

"Rest now, plan later," he said and went back to his thicket. Neither Stena nor Claris said anything to him.

It was after dark and the noise from the meadow had stopped when he called the herd together again into the clearing. This meeting was well attended. Even the Old Owl and some of the squirrels and possums came and tried not to get trampled underfoot. He explained his plan to them. He then finished up with the following.

Bambi, Jolo and I will watch the Men in the meadow. When it seems like they want to start hunting we will call to you. That may start as soon as tomorrow, At that point all of you will go up the hill and stay near the top. When Man does try and chase the animals, he will not be able to forces us onto the meadow. Remember this; even if Man is behind you, do not allow yourselves to be chased onto the meadow. To do so is to die."

"We have never done this before," an older doe called out. "Will this save us?"

"I hope so, but I have never done this myself," he said calmly. "I do know very well what happens when Man chases animals onto the meadow. We saw that last Season and several of us died there."

A younger male asked, "Can we eat the grass in the open area past the top of the hill? Is it like the meadow?"

"We should, but that open spot is not as well watered as the meadow. I would not go too far from the trees and I would test the air for the presence of man. The grass should be good enough to eat."

There were no more questions. With that he decided to go to the meadow and watch from his place of hiding. Jolo, Gurri, Bambi, and Faline insisted on coming with him as did the fawns. Finally even Claris decided to come. He rather would have done this alone since he would be harder to see with only him, but it be a good lesson for the fawns. They all went to their watching place.

There were only two lights shining in the man cave. What got his attention was that as before, Man had built the smaller caves near the end of the meadow from where they could easily view all of it. He saw no dogs, there was no shouting. Other than the lights it was quiet. The wind blew in the wrong direction to smell any man scent, but it did not seem there were many Men there. Later on all the lights went out and it was quiet.

"Do we try and eat on the meadow?" Jolo asked him. "I see no dogs to warn the Men."

"I hear nothing and I do not smell anything." Bambi added. "I think it is safe."

He had to agree, but they could always be wrong.

"We eat near the trees," he told them. "All of you watch the Man caves. If you see any lights go on, if you see men come out of the caves, if you hear any loud and unfamiliar noise, you all run. Do not run together, run into the forest and we will all meet next to Bambi's cave."

They all nodded approval and they all went out on the meadow together and then spread out quickly. They ate just as quickly. A few of the herd also join them and together they ate and drank their fill before the first streaks of red appeared in the distance. It was then he heard Jolo bleat loudly a warning. He looked up and saw many pairs of glowing eyes travel down the Man path toward them.

"Run," he called out.

The herd scattered in a dozen different directions. He stopped a few lengths into the forest and called out his warning to the herd. It was picked up by Jolo and Bambi. By then the many Man animals had stopped and he saw many Men get out all carrying the killing sticks. They would hunt today it seemed to him. He raced back to the cave and found the others already there.

"We need to go to the top of the hill," he told them. "Man has come in large numbers and he has come here to kill."

They all traveled quickly up the stream, past the clearing and the pond and beyond until the stream flowed into the open. They climbed the hill and got to the top. By then, all of them were worn out.

"Spread out and keep low," he told them.

"He and Claris took cover under a tall stand of pine trees. He saw Bambi and Faline a distance away behind bushes. The three fawns found a small hollow in the ground and bedded down. He lost sight of Gurri and Jolo. He could hear the footsteps of other deer running up the hill. He could also smell the other deer nearby. It appeared the herd had done what he asked them, he only hoped he was correct.

As they lay down, Claris snuggled up close to him and lay against his side. It was a pleasant way to spend the day avoiding man.

"So what did Stena and you talk about?" he asked. He had not had a chance to talk with Claris alone for a while.

Claris seemed to smile openly. "She told me that she had slept with Balo during the Season, and that nothing happened. Balo did not try and couple with her. She told me she liked the feeling of him lying next to her. She told me it made her feel warm inside. I told her lying next you did the same thing to me. Then she asked me how I felt, and I told her we had been together and I hoped I would have another fawn in the spring. Finally she told me she was happy for us and that she would try and do the same thing next Season."

"So our little fawn is not so little anymore," he said. "The only thing is that Balo will not be big enough to challenge anyone for Stena. "

"So she will either have to run away with Balo when the Season starts where the other males cannot find her, or she will have to do what I did that first season and kick hard any male that got near her. It did work for me before a deer I was interested in showed up."

"That deer is still interested in you," he told her and nuzzled the back of her neck. "Now let us sleep, we will need it.

They did not sleep for long. Soon they heard Men tramping through the forest and up the hill. The wind was from the other forest so he could not smell them well. They got closer and was beginning to wonder if had made a mistake coming here when they stopped.

"AAAYYYYYAAAAAA," they stared to yell and make other noises by beating on something.

"AAAYYYAAA," they repeated and soon it became obvious was that they were walking away from them.

The yelling and banging got less and less. There were only two sounds of the killing sticks. They actually managed to get sleep that day. That night they ate in the open area near the trees. The food was good, but they had to walk a distance to get to water. Still no deer were missing. They decided to stay up here again for the next day and night.

The next day the men repeated their yelling but it was in the forest on the other side of the meadow near the bear. Again there were few noises from killing sticks. At night they ate in the open space and drank down at the stream.

On the following day they again heard Man near them, but he sounded like he was walking up the stream and through the clearing. Nothing came near them. That was the last they heard of Man. Where there were no noises on the next day, the herd decided to go back to their normal places. All he heard were praises that no one was killed this Season. He was happy and so were the rest. After dark they walked down the stream. It was getting toward morning when they were getting back to the cave and thicket. As they approached the clearing where Bambi's cave was a strange smell caught his nose. It was awful smelling and hurt his nose to smell it.

"Skunk, has been nearby," Bambi said. "We do not get many of them, but there are a few around."

"I can smell nothing, but skunk," he said.

"It is awful," Jolo said and he and Gurri, walked into the small clear along with Faline and Gerta. Balso was walking with Stena. As Jolo and Gurri were about to walk by Bambi's cave they stopped suddenly and both their white tails shot up into the air.

"RUN!" Bambi yelled out.

As he and Claris turned he saw figures get up. Seconds later the air was filled with. WHAMMM, WHAMMM, WHAMMM, WHAMMMM, WHAMMMMM. He lunged back into the forest behind him. He lost sight of everyone else. All he knew was Claris was next to him. "WHAMM, WHAMMMM, WHAMMM he heard again. They ran changing directions several times. They both ran back to the clearing and hid in the trees. As he stopped he looked at Claris.

"Are you hit," he asked and looked her over. Thankfully she was unhurt.

"Are you hit," she asked and looked him over. "No you are fine."

"I lost sight of the others," he said.

They waited hidden straining their ears and noses to pick up anything of Man, but there was nothing. It was a while later when he saw Balo and Stena walk into the clearing. Balo came out first with Stena lagging behind obviously hurt. The both got up and ran

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