the escape of the animal from the cobbler’s cage so surprised joe and dick that at first they did not understand what teddy had shouted. even mr. crispen was startled.
as for mrs. traddle, who had followed the shoemaker out to the garden after the telephone talk, she gave a loud cry when the trap was broken by the escaping captive.
then mrs. traddle rushed into the house, slammed shut and locked the door and cried:
“send for the police! send for the police!”
but when another shout of teddy had echoed in the ears of his chums, and they had time to calm down, joe asked:
“what did you say, teddy?”
“i said that was no deer.”
“what was it?” asked dick.
147 “a goat!” teddy exclaimed. “and it looked like that big goat tony pasqualla keeps in a shack near his garden.”
“a goat?” repeated dick.
“yes, a goat,” declared teddy again. “i had a better look at it than you fellows. it was a goat as sure as anything.”
“well, then,” said mr. crispen, who was getting over his disappointment at the animal’s escape, “no wonder it broke my trap, strong as it was. that goat just butted through the boards.”
“i’ll say he butted through!” laughed teddy. “i’m glad i wasn’t in front of him when it happened. boy, he sure sailed over the fence as if he had wings!”
“where is he now?” asked the cobbler.
“about ten miles from here, i should say, at the rate he was going,” laughed teddy.
“he sure was scared,” remarked joe.
“and mad!” added dick.
“no wonder,” said teddy. “if that was tony pasqualla’s big goat, and i think it148 was from the color, he’s always been kindly treated. to tony and his family that goat, which they milk, is like a cow. they even bring it in the house, so i heard. no wonder, after having been treated kindly all its life, the goat got mad when it was trapped and shut up.”
“dear me! a goat!” murmured mr. crispen. “i was sure it was a deer.”
“well, it did look a little like the mystery deer,” joe said. “it was brown and white.”
“and had horns,” added dick.
“but we couldn’t see it very well. the cracks in the trap were too small,” teddy remarked.
“that’s so,” admitted the cobbler. “i’ll make a new trap and put in bigger cracks. then we can see what we’ve caught.”
mrs. traddle, after looking from a window and seeing no signs of any raging animal, came out into the garden again.
“are you fixing,” she asked mr. crispen,149 her mouth drawing to a thin line, “to make another trap and set it in my garden?”
“i was,” spoke the cobbler.
“no,” said mrs. traddle firmly. “no more deer traps in my garden! i’ve been bothered enough. set your deer trap some other place.”
“but this is the best place,” protested the cobbler. “the deer has been here once. he likes your garden, mrs. traddle. he is sure to come again.”
“well, if he comes again he can go again. he isn’t going to be trapped and turn into a goat to scare a body into a conniption fit. no more deer traps in my garden!”
“well, all right,” said the cobbler, somewhat sadly. “i guess you boys will have to look around for other places where the deer comes and i’ll set my trap there.”
“all right,” assented teddy. “we’ll have to take the trail again, fellows.”
“the trail of the mystery deer!” said joe.
150 “what’ll we do about this broken trap?” asked dick.
“i’ll take it back to the shop on my cart,” said mr. crispen. “i’ll make a better trap next time. i’m sorry about this, boys.”
“oh, well, you couldn’t help it,” said teddy. “no one could tell that pasqualla’s goat was going to get loose and roam into the trap at night.”
mr. lanter, the butcher, came along just then in his truck, ready to load on it the trap and the deer he supposed had been caught.
“but there’s nothing now for you to do, thank you just the same,” said mr. crispen. “it got away.”
“you mean the deer did?” asked the butcher.
“no, the goat.”
“i thought you said it was a deer.”
“so i did, mr. lanter, but it turned out to be a goat.”
“there’s something funny about this,”151 said the butcher as he prepared to drive away in his truck after hearing the story. “first it’s a deer, then it’s a goat, then it isn’t anything. talk about mysteries—this sure is one!”
and as several days passed and there was no further sign or news of the deer, teddy and his chums began to feel they had seen the last of the mystery animal.
for a time they had hopes they might be called on to look for the big brown and white goat of tony pasqualla. but that family pet, after breaking out of the trap and leaping from mrs. traddle’s garden, finally made his way back to the stable where he was penned up.
teddy and his chums learned this when they called to inquire about the goat. they saw the animal tied in a stall eating peacefully.
“one nighta she go away,” tony explained to the boys. “no can finda my goat152 all night. nexta da morn she coma home alla crazy like—you know, excite! someting musta happen my goat.”
“something did,” teddy said. and he and the boys explained. for they knew tony would hear about the trap and they wanted him to know the catching of his goat had not been intended.
“oh, sure, dat’s alla de right,” smiled the italian. “my goat angelina no hurt any. but you say you want to get a deer?”
“yes,” teddy replied. “a mystery deer.”
“oh, is dat a danger kind—dat mysdery deer?”
“no. it only means there’s something strange about it,” said joe. “mysterious.”
“it comes and goes,” added dick.
“oh, i understan’,” laughed tony. “justa laik de sun! ha! ha!”
though teddy and his chums made several trips to the woods, fields and the glen, they saw no further signs of the deer. sometimes153 the girls went with them on hunts. once in a while fatty nolan would go out with the boys. but he was so excited no one could depend on him. once he caused great excitement by shouting:
“there he is! the mystery deer! i see his horns!”
but it was only the whitened, gnarled roots of an old stump in a field.
once margie and lucy came hurrying home from a berry-picking trip saying they had seen the deer in a field. teddy and his chums hurried to the place only to see a cow, partly screened by the bushes.
meanwhile mr. crispen made his trap over and set it in mason’s meadow near the place where the deer had first been seen. but though he put fresh bait in the trap every night, no deer went in to spring the trap and be caught.
“i guess we’ve seen the last of the mystery deer,” said teddy to his chums one day.154 they were returning from a trip to look for the animal.
“seems so,” admitted joe.
“we haven’t even seen that cowboy, or whoever he was, that lassoed you, teddy,” remarked dick.
“no, we haven’t. and i’d like to meet him. maybe he didn’t mean to rope me. he might want his lasso back,” teddy said.
it was two days after this that teddy was down in the far end of the house garden, doing a little weeding. the garden was one in which teddy had an interest. it was a tomato patch and his father had said teddy could have half of the tomatoes to sell if he would keep the patch weeded and the vines up off the ground on little wooden supports.
it was in the afternoon and teddy was stooping down, pulling out some weeds when he suddenly felt himself touched on the back.
“hey, quit that!” he called, thinking it was either dick or joe who had sneaked up on him.
155 there was no answer. but a moment later teddy suddenly was upset and thrust forward so that he fell flat on the ground among the tomato vines.
