the voices went back to the Man cave. He rested until night and slowly made his way back to his clearing.

As he was moving slowly through the forest, the wind started blowing from the meadow. The odor that came to him was the smell of burning deer flesh. They had managed to kill some deer, but he had no idea who. It should have been easy to avoid them. He stopped to rest many times and finally got to his clearing. There was no one there at the time. He found some grass and ate it, but he did not want to walk any more. No doubt the others were eating in the forest tonight since the meadow was not safe. He rested on the ground and waited for the others to return. It was nearly morning before he heard something from nearby.

"He was not where Oswell said he was" he heard Stena say almost sobbing.

"I did not smell any blood although I could smell his scent," Balo said. "Maybe the Men took him."

"That smell from the meadow" Claris said and then her voice trailed off.

"There should still be blood," Balo added.

"Then where is he?" Carie said.

"If you are talking about me, I am here," he said and stood up still favoring his right front leg.

The male and three doe looked at him as if he fell from the lesser light. There was a collected gasp. "Are you alright," Claris stammered out.

"I twisted my right front leg so I cannot walk well or run, but yes I am alright." he told them.

Claris ran up to him and kissed him on the mouth. "We thought you were hit by Man," she said. "We saw you stumble as Man used his killing sticks on you. Oswell said he saw you lying on your side and you did not move when he called you. He thought you were dead."

"We went looking for you," Stena said also nuzzling his side.

"You went looking for me with young fawns?" he asked knowing how foolish that was.

"No Stranger," Carie said smiling at him. "Stena left her fawn with me up in the hills and I stayed with them while they looked for you."

"When we smelled the burnt deer meat, we thought it might be you," Stena told him with relief.

"Well right now I suggest you find some grass to eat, drink and then rest for the day. These Men are not like the others. They seem wilder, more ignorant of the forest. We need to avoid them."

He was surprised at all the bother. He had told his family for many seasons that one day he felt it would be him who would be gone and the forest would go on without him. He certainly did not expect his family to risk themselves for his purpose. Even through his leg still hurt he got up and faced the others.

"Listen to me," he said firmly. "You know I care about all of you and I know you all care about me. For that I am grateful. What you did was still foolish. You should have never gone into the forest to look for me if you thought I was gone. Stena you have a young fawn to look after. Balo, if I am gone you will have a herd to look after. None of you can do this is if you are gone with me. If I am hurt and can come back I will. If I am hurt and cannot come back, or worse, then your lives will go on without me. Risking yourself to find me accomplishes nothing. If this ever happens again, and one day it will, you are not to do this. You go on and do the best you can without me."

"But Father . . .," Stena started to say."

"No but Father," he interrupted loudly. "One deer is not as important as the herd. You must think about what is good for the others. That is what Bambi taught me and what I have tried to teach you. You must not do this again. Am I understood?"

He looked around at his family who seemed more in shock at his outburst. He gazed sternly at the others. Stena and Balo turned away and went back to their bedding area, little Delon following them. He turned and looked at Claris and Carie.

"It is late and I am tired. Let us rest," he said to them

Claris said nothing but also turned and walked away. Carie remained.

"I agree with what you said, Stranger," Carie said, "But they really were afraid you were gone and wanted to know for sure. They care about you."

"I know," he said nuzzling her, "But they should not care as much as to risk themselves. Now, let us rest."

"Right after I feed your son," she told him and then presented her underside to the fawn who needed little encouragement. He eagerly reached up and drank at his Mother's side. He lay down on his hurting leg and watched. He was glad of one thing. His son looked strong. He was eager to drink and at times eager to play. He waiting until Stuben was done."

"I will be back shortly," Carie said. "I need to drink."

He got up, "I will watch him." He told her. She went off and he lowered his head. Stuben recognized the offer to play and immediately charged into him. He pushed back slowly, but forcefully. Even through pushed back, Stuben came at him again and again. He was not weak of that he was sure. Finally the little fawn stopped and emptied himself on the ground and then walked up to him. He reached over and nuzzled his son who looked at him affectionately with two coal black eyes and licked the side of his mouth. He realized in that moment how much he wanted to stay around in the forest and raise his son and teach him what he knew. Inwardly, he felt the intense desire to show him everything so one day he could be a better deer than him and one day perhaps become herd leader himself. That was something that would happen long after he was gone from the forest, but he did not mind.

He found Claris already bedded down, her face turned from him. He nuzzled the back of her neck and then Carie and finally little Stuben who wiggled between him and Carie. He fell asleep thinking how wonderful it is to have a family that cares, and how bad it could be if they cared too much.

The noise from the forest continued the next day. Again well after the greater light rose they go stumbling through the forest. There was no noise from the killing sticks. That night there was more loud shouting. And again the smell of burnt meat, but this time is was not deer they were burning. The deer remained off the meadow and nibbled on the grass they could find in the forest. By now the herd knew if they heard Man sounds from the meadow, stay off the meadow even at night.

The following day near the rising of the greater light he heard something different. First there was a strange noise like a huge bird calling very loudly. It called high and low and it sounded like there was more than one of them. Then there was loud shouting from the direction of the Man cave. Next he heard the sound of killing sticks, but these were not as loud as the ones he normally would hear. After that he heard nothing for a while and then more of the strange bird calling and more yelling. Then after some more loud noises, he heard nothing.

None of this he had heard before and he looked to both Claris and Carie who also seemed puzzled. There were no more noises, no more sound of Man walking through the forest. It was as quiet and peaceful as before.

"What was all of that?" Claris asked.

"I do not know, but if I hear nothing else, I will go look at the meadow after dark. Until then, I hear or smell nothing so I am going to try and get some sleep."

After dark, Balo and he watched from their normal viewing place. The meadow was empty, the Man cave was dark, and there was not a hint of the scent of Man."

"It looks safe to me," Balo said looking it all over carefully. "I see no trace of Man."

"Nor do I, but watch." he told him.

He walked out into the meadow near the trees and called as loud as he could. He did not call for anyone, just wanted to call out and see if anything happened. After a while, nothing moved on the meadow. He then called for the rest of the herd to come to the meadow. In twos and threes they came until the entire herd was there. They all started eating the fresh grass on the ground.

"He was eating when he saw a young doe come up toward him. He did not recall her name, but she looked upset at something. She walked forward looking upset.

"Herd Leader," the doe sobbed, "My fawn is gone. Man took her."

"Man took her," Stena said looking at her strangely.

"When Man came into the forest, I hid my fawn and then ran trying to lead Man away. Man did not follow me but instead went near where my fawn was. I head the killing stick so I did not go back until after dark. Where I left my fawn, there was the smell of Man and a pool of blood. My fawn's scent was in the pool. My fawn is gone."

Balo took a deep breath. "First Gerta and now this," Balo growled.

Now he knew where the burnt smell of the deer meat came from. Man killed an infant fawn and burned that. What pleasure could anyone have killing a defenseless fawn for enjoyment?"

"I am sorry," he said to the doe. "You are right, your fawn is gone."

Maybe the doe hoped that he could give her some good news about her fawn, but there was none to be had. The doe turned and walked away. There was always next year he hoped.

"I so much wish there was something we could do to stop this," Stena said.

"Not any more than I do," he said and walked away suppressing his own boiling anger.

Chapter 2: Unusual Guests

It was in the afternoon of a late spring morning that he heard the noise from the meadow. It was the voices from Man, only these sounded differently. He raised his head. This awaken Claris on his left and Carie on his right, who both raised their heads along with him. Little

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