The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-02
A BATTLE ROYAL.
How Stallion and Buck Fought sllndly
 to the Death.
From the Century.

From the Century.
 At about 2 ocock in the morning. at
 that mystic hour when nature seems to send a message to all her animate chll-
 dren. preparing them for the advent of
 dawn. the while stallion got up, shook himself, stepped softly down to the brook 8
 edge for a drink, and then fell to crop ping the grass wherever 1t remained green
 The forest. though to Il careless ear 1t
 might have seemed as silent as before,
 had in reality stirred to sudden ephem-
 eral life. Far off, from some high rock.
 a she fox parked sharply. Faint muifled
 chirps from the thick bushes told of junkos and chckadees waking up to
 see if all was well with the world. The
 mice set up a scurrying in the grass. And
 presently a high-antlered buck stepped out of the shadows and stared across the open toward the brook.
 The dark buck, himself a moving shad- ow, saw the stallion first, and stopped with loud snort of astonishment and defiance. The stallion wheeled about eyed the intruder for moment doubtfully, | then trotted up with a whnny of pleased | interrogation. He had no dread of the
 antlered visitor. but rather hope of com panionship in the vast and overpowering | loneliness of the alien night.
 | The buck, however, was in anything but | a friendly mood His veins aflame with the arrogant pugnacity of the mating | season, he saw in the white stranger 1 only a possible rival and grew hot with | rage at his approach With an impatient stamping of his slim fore-hoofs he gave | challenge. But to the stallion this was l an unknown language. Ipnocently he 1 came up, his nose stretched out in ques- | tion, till he was within a few feet of l the motionless buck. Then. to his aston | ishment the latter bounced suddenly aside | like ball, stood straight up on his hind | legs, and struck at him like lightning
 with those l<een-edged fore-hoofs. It was | a savage assault, and two long, red fur 1 rows-one longer and deeper than the oth- l er-appeared on the stallions silky white | flank
 In that instant the wanderers friendli- | ness vanished and an averaging fury took ] its place. His confidence had been cruelty
 betrayed With a harsh squeal. his mouth i wide open, and lips drawn back from his 1 formidable teeth, he sprang at his assall- | ant. But the buck had no vain idea of l standing up against this whrlwind of wrath which he had evoked. He bounded aside, lightly but hurriedly, and watched l for an opportunity to repeat his attack. The stallion however. was not to be ! caught again: and the dashing ferocty of | his rushes kept his adversary eeaselessly 1 on the move bounding into the air and 1 leapng aside to avoid those disastrous l teeth, The buck was awaiting what he 1 felt sure would come. the chance to strike | again: and his confidence in his own su- preme agility kept him from any appre- | hension as to the outcome of the fight | But the bucks great weakness lay in his 1 ignorance, his insufficient knowledge of 1 the game he was playing. He had no idea 1 that his rushing white antagonist had any l other tactics at command. When he
 gave way, therefore, he went just far
 enough to escape the stallion's teeth and | battering forefeet The stallion, on the
 other hand. soon realized the futility of | his present method of attack against so nimble an adversary. On his next rush.
 therefore. just as the buck bounced aside. 1 he wheeled in a short half circle, and l dashed out high and far with his steel | shod heels. The buck was Just within
 the most deadly range of the blow He
 caught the terrific impact on the base of
 the neck and the forward point of the
 shoulder and went down as if an explo- ! sive bullet had struck him. Before> he
 could even stir to rise the stallion was upon him. trampling battering, squealing. | biting madly: and the fight was done. When the wanderer had spent his ven l geance, and paused, snoring and wild l eyed, to take breath, he looked down upon a mangled shape that no longer strug- 1 gled or stirred or even breathed Then l the last of his righteous fury faded out. ! The sight and small of the blood sickened I him, and in a kind of terror he turned | away. For a few hesltating moments he stared about his little retreat and then, l finding it had grown hateful to him, he l forsook it and rushed onward on the edge
 of the stream, between the black im- l pending walls of the forest.