the deer scattered in every direction except into the water. He lunged into the thicket and the deeper woods beyond before stopping. He knew he was well hidden. He got down low and waited. He strained his nose and ears to detect any sign of Man. The forest had gone quiet again. He was alone. He had not seen anyone hit, but he hadn't been looking for anyone. He waited and after a short time he could hear the voice of Man, in fact several Men. They were walking toward him, yet they were still on the meadow. They were laughing and having a good time. He got up and very slowly moved forward keeping his head behind trees and bushes. It was not long before he could see into the meadow.

He looked around and the meadow was empty except for three deer lying still on the ground. He recognized them immediately. It was Ronno, Marol and their fawn. All were lying still. He could not see well from this distance, but he could see the large open wound above the shoulder of Ronno. It was the fawn that made his sick. The poor little thing was blow open by the killing stick of Man, pieces of its little body flew everywhere. At least it hadn't suffered. Then he heard the laughter of Man. He watched Man walking on the meadow, their killing sticks on their shoulders. They walked over to the three deer and looked at them. They were obviously having a good time.

He watched them get down and then reach into the shell like thing on their backs and pull out what looked to be a single claw each. After that they stared driving their claw into Ronno and Marol and cutting into their bodies like a bear. They took parts of their insides and threw them out onto the grass. Then they started to cut away other parts of them, cutting away their flesh into pieces. They put the flesh in something that looked like skin. They even did that to the fawn, although there was little enough to be had from something that small. A part of him wanted to go out and charge the Men to hurt them for what they have done, but that would only mean he be dead along with Ronno and Marol. There was nothing he could do.

He had seen this before when he lived with Man. He knew they go back and throw their flesh on a fire and burn it; then eat the flesh. All the while Man would be having fun eating their flesh. He could not look at it anymore. He waiting until he was sure they were busy cutting up poor Ronno and Marol and not watching around them before he slowly got up and walked away being careful not to make a sound. He backed away when he caught the scent of another deer in front of him. He looked and saw Gorro hiding behind the trees. He quietly moved over to him. Gorro seem fixed in place as if stunned. He was only paying attention to what was going on in front of him. Finally he saw that from his hiding place he too had seen everything that happened on the meadow.

"Gorro," he whispered.

Gorro did not move or utter a sound. He moved up to him until he was right next to him. Gorro never heard him approach.

"Gorro," he said and kicked the young male in the rear. That brought him out of it. He turned and looked at him with shock on his face.

"Stranger," he squeaked. "Did you see what the Men did to Ronno and Marol?"

"Yes, now come with me before we are next," he ordered him. He then nudged him again. This time Gorro moved with him away from the meadow. Gorro followed, but he made no attempt to pick his way quietly. He stepped on a few twigs and broke them. The sound was loud, but not loud enough to be heard far.

He turned quickly and hit Gorro with his front left leg. "Be quiet!" he tried to say in a whisper.

That seemed to wake him. He started to pick his way around the ground making little noise. Once he could no longer hear anything from the meadow he stopped. He turned and looked angrily at Gorro.

"When you are near Man you cannot make a sound," he told him. "That can get you just as dead as Ronno and Marol are now, along with anyone else near you."

"They cut them up," was all Gorro could say as if not believing what he saw.

Yes, Man does that," he told him tersely. "Man will cut them up, take them back to a Man cave, then throw their flesh on a fire, and then eat it. That is what Man does. I have seen it many times."

"My father told me you lived with Man when you were very young," Gorro said trying now to be quieter. "Did you see that there?"

He realized the young male had not seen this before. It was too much for him. It reminded him of Stabo when he was this young. In a way it was good he had seen it now. He looked down at Gorrro and glared at him with his eyes. "Yes I saw that there. Yes, I heard Man having fun as they ate the meat and drank. They were all very happy about the whole thing. That is what made me leave. How can anyone take pleasure in doing that, yet they do. You have to learn that the only way to stop them doing that to you or others close to you is to be careful around Man. You must not be seen. If Man can see you, Man can kill you. Then he will do to you exactly what he did to Ronno."

Gorro backed away and then turned quickly he spat up a large piece of cud along with some foul smelling liquid. He also lost control of his bowl for a moment. "I am sorry," he said. "I do not know what came over me."

He took a deep breath. "Do not feel bad, I was the same way the first time I saw what you just saw. Now let us go back to your parents and the others. They most likely think we are dead."

"Does what the Men did to Ronno and Marol not bother you?" Gorro asked.

For a second he was angry to be asked such a question. He then reminded himself Gorro was young and had not learned yet. "Yes it does," he said calmly, "But I have learned to live with it. As have your mother and father. You will learn to live with it too. All deer learn to live with it and get wiser, or they end up like Ronno."

"But I never smelled Man," Gorro said.

"Nor did I or your father," he answered. "Man can sometime approach without being seen, heard, or smelled. That is why you never stand in the open during daylight, because you never know when Man is around. The only reason it is not one of us out there in the meadow being cut up right now is that we walked back near the thicket before the greater light came up and Man could not see us clearly. Ronno was slower and was seen. Now he, Marol and their fawn are dead. You must learn from this Gorro. You must understand this because someday you will be leader around here and the other deer will look to you to tell them when it is safe to feed and when it is not. It will be up to you to see they are safe just like your father does. What you have seen is a hard lesson, but it is a lesson all herd leaders must learn. It is just as important as knowing how to fight and knowing how to lead. Your father will teach you this and you must learn because someday it will be you doing this."

Gorro looked to him almost in shock. He could see it was only now clear to him what it meant to be leader. He took a few deep breaths and the nodded his head. "I understand, I think. I am sorry I behaved the way I did."

"There is nothing to forgive, because you did not know," he said now trying to sound friendly. "You are young and you must learn as I did from Man, as you father learned from his father, and you will learn from your father. One day you will teach it to your son and he will follow you after you are gone."

He walked with Gorro back to the small meadow. He let the young deer ponder what he had seen and what he had said. He hoped he got his message across. As they approached the small clearing their scent carried into the opening. Bambi, Faline, Claris and Carie all ran out to meet them.

"You are safe," Faline said with relief licking Gorro. When neither of you came back we were afraid you had been hit.

"We are fine, Mother," Gorro said his voice still sounding tense. "Ronno, Marol and their fawn are dead. Excuse me for a while."

With that Gorro walked away from them. Both Faline and Bambi looked at each other. They were all stunned. They had all known Ronno and Marol for many seasons, now they were gone just like that. After a few seconds Faline looked toward Gorro walking away and turned to follow him.

"No," he told them and then started to explain exactly what both of them had seen and his talk with Gorro on their way back. Carie almost looked like she would be sick as Gorro was when he told them the details.

"I am sorry, that I overstepped my bounds with Gorro," he told Bambi. "However he saw something terrible and I wanted to make sure he learned the lesson while it was fresh in his mind. I know you should have told him that, but you were not there."

Bambi looked at him with a mixture of sympathy and disgust. "Yes, I wish I had been there, but you know this lesson as well or better than I do. I am thankful it was you. Do not feel badly. I am sure Gorro will get over this."

"Man really does that to us?" Carie asked not believing it.

"Yes," he said.

'And you saw all of this before?" she asked again. She still looked she really didn't believe it.

All he could do is nod his head. It was then Claris stepped forward and stood next to him. She nuzzled him lightly in understanding. "I think Stranger that you need to tell Carie the story of your early life like you told me, Bambi and the others" Claris told him. "She needs to know if she is going to stay with us."

Claris was right he knew. He should have done this earlier. "You are correct," he told her and licked the side of her face.

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