From the day that Karr went to live with the game-keeper he abandoned his forbidden chase in the forest. This was due not only to his having been frightened, but also to the fact that he did not wish to make the game-keeper angry at him. Ever since his new master saved his life the dog loved him above everything else. He thought only of following him and watching over him. If he left the house, Karr would run ahead to make sure that the way was clear, and if he sat at home, Karr would lie before the door and keep a close watch on every one who came and went.  
When all was quiet at the , when no footsteps were heard on the road, and the game-keeper was working in his garden, Karr would amuse himself playing with the baby .
 
At first the dog had no desire to leave his master even for a moment. Since he accompanied him everywhere, he went with him to the cow shed. When he gave the elk its milk, the dog would sit outside the stall and gaze at it. The game-keeper called the calf Grayskin because he thought it did not merit a prettier name, and Karr agreed with him on that point.
 
Every time the dog looked at it he thought that he had never seen anything so ugly and misshapen as the baby elk, with its long, shambly legs, which hung down from the body like loose . The head was large, old, and wrinkled, and it always to one side. The skin lay in tucks and folds, as if the animal had put on a coat that had not been made for him. Always doleful and discontented, enough he jumped up every time Karr appeared as if glad to see him.
 
The elk calf became less hopeful from day to day, did not grow any, and at last he could not even rise when he saw Karr. Then the dog jumped up into the crib to greet him, and thereupon a light in the eyes of the poor creature—as if a cherished were fulfilled.
 
After that Karr visited the elk calf every day, and spent many hours with him, licking his coat, playing and with him, till he taught him a little of everything a forest animal should know.
 
It was that, from the time Karr began to visit the elk calf in his stall, the latter seemed more , and began to grow. After he was fairly started, he grew so rapidly that in a couple of weeks the stall could no longer hold him, and he had to be moved into a .
 
When he had been in the grove two months his legs were so long that he could step over the fence whenever he wished. Then the lord of the gave the game-keeper permission to put up a higher fence and to allow him more space. Here the elk lived for several years, and grew up into a strong and handsome animal. Karr kept him company as often as he could; but now it was no longer through pity, for a great friendship had sprung up between the two. The elk was always inclined to be , listless, and, indifferent, but Karr knew how to make him playful and happy.
 
Grayskin had lived for five summers on the game-keeper's place, when his owner received a letter from a zoölogical garden abroad asking if the elk might be purchased.
 
The master was pleased with the proposal, the game-keeper was , but had not the power to say no; so it was that the elk should be sold. Karr soon discovered what was in the air and ran over to the elk to have a chat with him. The dog was very much distressed at the thought of losing his friend, but the elk took the matter calmly, and seemed neither glad nor sorry.
 
"Do you think of letting them send you away without offering resistance?" asked Karr.
 
"What good would it do to resist?" asked Grayskin. "I should prefer to remain where I am, naturally, but if I've been sold, I shall have to go, of course."
 
Karr looked at Grayskin and measured him with his eyes. It was apparent that the elk was not yet full grown. He did not have the broad antlers, high hump, and long mane of the mature elk; but he certainly had strength enough to fight for his freedom.
 
"One can see that he has been in all his life," thought Karr, but said nothing.
 
Karr left and did not return to the grove till long past midnight. By that time he knew Grayskin would be awake and eating his breakfast.
 
"Of course you are doing right, Grayskin, in letting them take you away," remarked Karr, who appeared now to be calm and satisfied. "You will be a prisoner in a large park and will have no responsibilities. It seems a pity that you must leave here without having seen the forest. You know your ancestors have a saying that 'the elk are one with the forest.' But you haven't even been in a forest!"
 
Grayskin glanced up from the clover which he stood .
 
"Indeed, I should love to see the forest, but how am I to get over the fence?" he said with his usual .
 
"Oh, that is difficult for one who has such short legs!" said Karr.
 
The elk glanced slyly at the dog, who jumped the fence many times a day—little as he was.
 
He walked over to the fence, and with one spring he was on the other side, without knowing how it happened.
 
Then Karr and Grayskin went into the forest. It was a beautiful moonlight night in late summer; but in among the trees it was dark, and the elk walked along slowly.
 
"Perhaps we had better turn back," said Karr. "You, who have never before tramped the wild forest, might easily break your legs." Grayskin moved more rapidly and with more courage.
 
Karr conducted the elk to a part of the forest where the pines grew so thickly that no wind could them.
 
"It is here that your kind are in the habit of seeking shelter from cold and storm," said Karr. "Here they stand under the open skies all winter. But you will fare much better where you are going, for you will stand in a shed, with a roof over your head, like an ox."
 
Grayskin made no comment, b............