Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1908 — Doe’s Flirtation. [ARTICLE]

Doe’s Flirtation.

BUI Austen a chopper, was treeu the other day by an angry buck, and it might have gone hard with him if another buck hadn’t unwittingly helped him out of his difficulty. On the day or the adventure, Auaten wore for the first time a sweater ■he bought at a marked-down sale in Rutland. It was a fiery red garment, and when a buck, accompanied by a doe, got a look at Bill sitting on a log eating his lunch, he felt that he and his lady love bad been Insulted. Austen’s ax lay some feet off, and when the buck snorted and charged he didn’t have time to get it. He did just what any other sane man would have done—shinned the nearest spruce. This was a substantial tree, with widespread ng branches, and for an hour or two BUI was reasonably comfortable. He figured that the gallant buck would depart after a time, but in this he miscalculated, Tor the deer kept close to the trunk, and every time Bill moved he pawed the ground and bellowed, now and then turning his eye on his fair companion to receive her gracious approbation. - The chopper knew well enough that it was the red sweater which aroused the ire of the buck, but with the thermometer at zero he couldn’t take it off without freezing. So he sat on a limb, kicked his legs, clapped his arms amjl swore. Finally, even with the sweater, he began to be chilled, and things looked a bit serious. He was vainly trying to hatch up some scheme to get rid of the deer when the matter was taken out of his hands. Another buck, attracted by the stamping and snorting, hove in sight, and no sooner cast eye upon the comely doe than he began a desperate flirtation. It is a sad commentary on womankind in general that the doe reciprocated. She flapped her ears, cast down her lustrous eyes and cavorted. In Deerland these are signs of flirtation not to be mistaken, and the pawing buck no sooner saw these signs of reciprocity than he charged the Invader. In another Instant a fine battle was waging, and Austen, taking advantage of the situation, descended from the tree and legged it down the mountain. At the nearest house he borrowed a gun and returned. On his'arrival at the battleground nothing was to be seen of the deer, but the snow was covered with blood, hair and bits of horn, showing that the fight had been desperate.