somehow, margie and lucy did not speak of the mysterious deer to nellie, the other girls or to mrs. watson. lucy and margie hurried away from the scene of the little accident as soon as it was certain nellie was only wet and frightened but not hurt.
“i thought we had better not say anything about it being a deer that might have frightened nellie,” said lucy when the two were off by themselves.
“i thought the same,” agreed margie. “besides, we aren’t positive it was the deer.”
“no, but i believe it was,” said lucy. “only i didn’t see why we should tell everyone the secret.”
“of course not,” agreed her chum. “the deer sort of belongs to our club. if we can97 find out about it by ourselves, instead of bringing in a lot of others, it will be more fun.”
“that’s what i think,” agreed lucy. “but i wish i had been there when the deer looked out of the bushes across the brook.”
“and scared nellie so she fell in,” added margie. “it’s a wonder she didn’t know it was a deer.”
“that’s right. she just called it some big animal. but i’m sure the deer was around here. it must be here yet.”
“sure,” agreed margie. “do you think, after we eat our lunch, we should try to find the deer? it would be a good joke on the boys if we found it first, wouldn’t it?”
“just scrumptious!” laughed lucy. “but i think maybe we had better not go off deer hunting by ourselves. that deer has horns and it might be dangerous.”
“besides, we might get lost looking for it,” went on margie. “the woods are thick and dark once you go a little way from buttermilk98 falls. but we can tell the boys about the deer and they can come here and hunt it.”
“yes. and now let’s eat our lunches. i’m starved!”
“so am i!” assented margie. “i have some lovely chicken sandwiches that mother put up for me.”
“i have only ham sandwiches,” said lucy. “but i have a big piece of chocolate cake.”
“i’ll trade you a chicken sandwich for a piece of chocolate cake,” margie offered.
“that will make it just right!” laughed lucy. she ran ahead of margie but suddenly came to a stop.
“what’s the matter?” asked margie.
“isn’t this the place where we left our lunch?” asked lucy.
“yes, right there by that big rock,” said margie.
“well, it isn’t here now!” went on lucy.
“what! has somebody taken our lunch?” cried margie.
99 “i don’t know whether or not anybody has taken it,” spoke lucy as she looked around. “but our lunch is gone. there is nothing left of it but some crumbs and paper!”
“then somebody ate our lunch when we ran to see about nellie falling in the brook!” cried margie.
“somebody—or some animal,” spoke lucy as she continued to look about. “and from the way the paper is torn and scattered and from the marks here, i would say it was an animal, margie.”
“what marks? what animal, lucy?”
“hoof marks of a deer,” replied teddy’s sister. “that deer must have jumped the brook, after it scared nellie, and it came here and ate our food.”
“oh! oh!” sighed margie. “i didn’t know a deer would eat chicken sandwiches and lovely chocolate cake!”
“i didn’t either,” spoke lucy. “but i guess they do. it’s too bad!” her eyes were wide with excitement.
100 “i should say it is!” agreed dick’s sister. “but what are we going to do?”
for a time it seemed as if the two girls would have to go without their picnic lunch. but mrs. watson, making the rounds to see that all the children were safe, suddenly noticed how upset margie and lucy were.
“what’s the matter?” mrs. watson asked.
“someone took our lunch,” explained margie.
“oh, i hardly think anyone of our party would be so unkind as to do that,” said mrs. watson. “and there aren’t any boys along. boys sometimes play those tricks, i know, but girls don’t.”
“i think it was an animal,” explained lucy. but she did not speak of the deer.
mrs. watson heard the story of how margie and lucy had left their lunch on the ground, near the rock, while they ran to see what had happened to nellie.
“very likely some animal, a fox, perhaps,101 or a raccoon, came along and thought your picnic lunch was for him,” said mrs. watson. “never mind, my dears. nearly every girl brings more lunch than she can eat to these little picnics of ours. i am sure some of them will be glad to share with you.”
when the plight of margie and lucy became known, they had so many offers of sandwiches, cake and other things that they could not have eaten it all if they had tried.
“my! we never had so many adventures before on any of our picnics,” said mrs. watson when lunch time was over. “what with nellie falling in the brook and food mysteriously disappearing it was all quite exciting. what sort of an animal was it you think scared you, nellie?”
“well, i can’t be sure of that, but i think it was an elephant,” nellie answered. and while the others laughed she said: “well, it could be an elephant, couldn’t it?”
“of course it could,” said mrs. watson. “for elephants have been known to escape102 from circuses. but i hardly think it was, nellie. it might have been a cow or a dog.”
“do dogs have horns?” asked nellie, who was about seven years old.
“not that i ever heard of,” laughed mrs. watson.
“then it was a cow,” said nellie. “’cause i saw horns.”
“more likely it was a cow,” agreed mrs. watson. “but a cow wouldn’t hurt you.”
“it didn’t hurt me but it scared me,” stated the little girl. she was quite dry by this time, for mrs. watson had made her take off her outer garments which had dried in the sun and wind.
when nellie spoke of a “cow,” margie and lucy looked quickly at each other. they felt sure the animal with horns, which had so frightened nellie as to cause her to fall into the brook, was not a cow but the mysterious deer.
when the picnic was over, margie and103 lucy hurried to their homes, which were close together.
“we want to tell the boys about the deer being near buttermilk falls,” said margie.
“then they can go look for it,” said lucy.
but neither teddy, dick nor joe was at home when the girls reached town.
“they started off early this morning, before you went to the picnic,” said mrs. benson. “they haven’t come back yet.”
“didn’t they come home to lunch?” asked lucy.
“no,” said her mother. “but that is nothing to worry about. teddy said he might not be back. and he has money so he can buy a glass of milk and a sandwich if he needs it. why are you so anxious about the boys?”
“we want to tell them about the mysterious deer,” said lucy, as she and margie related the story of the afternoon’s adventures.
meanwhile teddy and his chums were starting to have some adventures of their104 own. they had come back to town after the strange lassoing of teddy near the spring. they went to the cobbler shop of mr. crispen.
“heel plates, eh?” questioned the old shoe-maker as he looked up from his bench at the boys. “yes, i have some.”
“have you any with a star on?” asked teddy.
“i had just one pair like that,” mr. crispen answered. “but i sold ’em, day afore yistiday. sort of funny, it was, too. i had ’em in stock a long time. but nobody seemed to want that pattern.
“then, day afore yistiday, all of a sudden, a young fellow came in here and bought ’em. said he sort of fancied ’em. so i sold ’em to him.”
“do you know who he was?” asked joe, eagerly.
“well, i don’t know him, exactly. but i got his name down somewhere. he said he wanted another pair of star heel plates and105 i said i’d send and get some. so i took his name to send a postal to him when they come. i got it somewhere—i mean his name.”
“what sort of a man was he?” asked teddy.
“oh, sort of tall and thin. funny part of it was he had a long rope with him, sort of a lasso i took it to be. he might be one of them wild westerners for all i know. i got his name some place around here.”
while mr. crispen was getting up from his bench to look for the name and address of the buyer of the star heel plates, teddy whispered to his chums:
“we’re on his trail! we have the heel plate clue! maybe now we can trace the mysterious deer!”
