teddy’s father was puzzled. he leaned on the handle of the lawn mower. he looked at mrs. traddle. then he looked toward the house where teddy and lucy were at breakfast.
“i am very sorry, mrs. traddle,” began mr. benson. but the old lady store keeper, who had, seemingly, been hearing quite well a moment before, suddenly became deaf.
“i didn’t come to borrow anything,” she said rather crossly. “not even your lawn mower.”
“i didn’t say you had come to borrow anything,” went on mr. benson. “i said i was sorry about your garden. i am sure it wasn’t any deer of teddy’s that got into your garden.”
69 “no, i didn’t say the deer came there steady,” said mrs. traddle, mixing teddy’s name up in that way. “but the deer came last night and he ate up most of my garden. it was a big loss. somebody has to pay for it.”
“i’ll see about it,” said mr. benson, pushing the lawn mower to one side. he walked toward the house, followed by mrs. traddle.
“teddy!” called his father. “come out here, please.”
teddy was already on his way to the side porch. lucy followed him, whispering:
“oh, what do you suppose is going to happen?”
both children had heard the last of mrs. traddle’s remarks as they crossed the porch.
“i don’t know,” teddy answered. “anyhow mrs. traddle can’t blame us for what a stray, mysterious deer did to her garden.”
“teddy,” began mr. benson as he saw his son. “what is this about your deer getting into the garden of mrs. traddle?”
70 “it isn’t our deer at all,” teddy explained.
“is there a deer?” his father wanted to know.
“oh, yes!” exclaimed lucy. “i saw it. i was chased by it and so was margie, yesterday.”
“this is the first i have heard of any deer,” said mr. benson. “where is it, teddy?”
“that’s what we don’t know. but we are going to find out. it is a mystery deer,” teddy answered.
mr. benson smiled at this. he had often heard his children speak of “mysterious” animals. but sometimes the animals were just that.
“the reason we didn’t tell you about the deer last night,” went on teddy, “is that you and mother were over to the church supper, and it was so late when you got home i forgot it.”
“so did i,” added lucy.
71 “well, tell me about it now,” suggested mr. benson.
he was told the story of the deer—as much as teddy and lucy knew—and teddy explained that he and his chums were going to try to get on the trail of the mysterious animal that day.
“first we have to find fatty nolan,” said teddy.
“is that the deer’s name?” asked mr. benson.
“no. it’s the name of a new fat boy,” teddy went on, laughing. “his father works part of mr. mason’s farm. fatty saw a man with a lasso running across the fields. after the deer, maybe. we’re going to see if he caught the deer.”
“well, if he has,” said mr. benson, “you might tell the owner of the deer that mrs. traddle wants damages for her garden. all her corn and beans are gone.”
“no, no!” hastily exclaimed mrs. traddle. “i didn’t say the deer sang a song. he just72 trampled and ate my garden. i didn’t even see the deer. he came during the night.”
“well, it wasn’t our deer,” teddy stated, taking pains to speak in a loud voice so mrs. traddle could understand.
“but in my store i’m sure you said it was your deer,” insisted the confused old lady.
“well,” explained teddy, “i meant we sort of called it our deer. we sort of feel we have to solve the mystery about it.”
“oh, well, then i guess i can’t blame you,” said mrs. traddle. “i’m sorry i made any trouble,” she went on. “but my poor garden is ruined.”
“if we find the man who owns the deer we’ll make him pay for the damage,” promised teddy.
“thanks,” murmured mrs. traddle as she turned and went back to her store.
teddy and lucy started toward the house to finish their breakfasts. mr. benson returned to cutting the grass, saying:
“so you have a new mystery, have you?”
73 “maybe it will be a mystery and maybe it won’t,” admitted teddy. “i’m going over to see fatty nolan as soon as the fellows come.”
a little later, when dick and joe arrived at teddy’s house, they were told of what had happened to mrs. traddle’s garden.
“let’s go have a look,” suggested dick.
“what for?” teddy wanted to know. “the deer isn’t there now.”
“no. but maybe he left a trail,” said joe. “if we’re going to find this animal we’ve got to follow his trail. come on.”
mrs. traddle’s garden was at the rear and to one side of her house and store. the boys found several men of oakdale looking at the ruin caused by the deer.
“looks like a herd of elephants was in there,” commented sam kean, the grocer.
“guess that deer spoiled more than he ate,” said luke lanter, the butcher. “looks like he lay down and rolled in the corn.”
“maybe he was sort of celebrating,” said74 mr. kean. “he probably never had such a free feast before.”
when most of the curious ones had departed, teddy and his chums asked permission of mrs. traddle to look in the garden.
“look as much as you like,” she said with a sniff. “there isn’t much left to see. dear me.”
“we want to see if he left a trail,” explained teddy.
“left a tail? land sakes, why would a deer want to go and leave his tail behind?” asked the old lady.
“i mean any marks so we could go after him and find him,” teddy explained.
“oh, i understand. like the indians i used to hear my grandfather tell about. well, look if you like. all you’ll see are a lot of paw marks. or maybe i should say hoof marks, bein’ as how it’s a deer,” said mrs. traddle.
the boys did find plenty of hoof marks75 but they were so jumbled up, it was impossible to determine which way the deer had come into the garden or gone out.
“i know what we ought to do,” said joe.
“what?” asked teddy.
“find that man with the lasso. if he wasn’t the owner of the deer he must have been after it. and maybe he would know how to trail it. let’s go find him.”
“where’ll we look?” asked dick.
“start with fatty nolan,” suggested teddy.
it did not take them long to reach the small farm house where the fat boy lived. fatty, who had just driven the cows to pasture after they had been milked, hurried toward the three boys.
“hello!” he called with a good-natured grin. “did you find that deer yet? i guess you didn’t. i didn’t either. i guess deers are hard to catch. i never chased one, but maybe that man with the lasso got him. did you see him—whose deer was it—come on in, will76 you? i can go with you if you like and help look for the deer. he was a big one, wasn’t he?”
fatty nolan had to stop and take a breath after all this talk. he had a habit of running his words and sentences together in his conversation, but the boys understood.
“the deer hasn’t been caught yet, as far as we know,” teddy said. “we came to see if you know that man with the lasso.”
“never saw him before,” fatty answered. “but let’s go look for him. maybe he caught the deer last night.”
“no, he didn’t,” said joe. “if he had, mrs. traddle’s garden wouldn’t have been spoiled.”
“did the deer do that?” exclaimed fatty. “oh, gosh!” he said, when told this had happened. “now we’ve got to get that deer. it might spoil dad’s garden. come on—this way. i can take you right where i last saw that lasso man. come on! hurry!”
fatty nolan, in spite of his unusual size,77 could walk almost as fast as he could talk. he kept ahead of teddy and his chums as they made their way to the meadow where they had first seen the man with the lasso.
teddy, dick and joe hardly expected to see the strange man again but luck was with them. they had just reached the place where they had noticed him the day before when, suddenly, fatty nolan shouted:
“there he is! there he is! the lasso man!”
