for a few seconds teddy and his chums did not know whether the big dog was a friend or enemy. teddy had the thought that they might be camping on the ground of some farmer who kept a fierce dog to drive away tramps.
“but,” thought teddy, “the dog couldn’t be very fierce or it wouldn’t have awakened me by licking my face with his tongue. he’d have started in biting me.”
however, in a little while the dog, which had been so closely looking at the boys, whom he could plainly see by the moonlight, wagged his tail in a friendly way.
“i guess he’s all right,” teddy announced.
“yes,” agreed dick. “that tail-wagging business shows he doesn’t want to bite.”
196 “but whose dog is it?” asked joe. “gosh! it’s almost as big as the deer we’re chasing.”
hardly had joe stopped talking than from the shadows of some little hillocks beyond the cold campfire came a voice saying:
“it’s all right, hopper—those are the boys i’m looking for—you found ’em—this is fine—now you can lie down—hello over there—i’m here!”
in a moment the boys knew who was speaking—fatty nolan. but how he had managed to reach their camp and what he was doing with the big dog was more than teddy and his chums could guess. they must find out, however, so teddy called:
“is that you, fatty?”
“sure!”
“what are you doing?”
“looking for you. i heard you were on the trail of the deer so i followed. you don’t mind, do you? i’ve brought my father’s deer hound—clodhopper my mother calls him on account of he’s so big and clumsy—but he’s197 got another name—rex. he’s a good dog for hunting deer—maybe he can help us—i came anyhow—had hard work finding you—guess i couldn’t have only for hopper—that’s the dog—i call him hopper for short. can i come over there?” all this fatty spoke in his usual fast style.
“sure! come on over and bring your dog,” teddy invited. “maybe he will help us in the morning. come on and join us.”
“thanks,” spoke fatty advancing, while hopper, sensing that the three boys were friends, wagged his tail harder than ever and curled up in a bunch of grass. “this is swell,” went on the stout lad. “i hoped i’d find you before morning so i could camp with you. i have my own blanket,” he added, showing a roll.
“did you have anything to eat?” asked dick whose thoughts always seemed to be on food.
“oh, yes. i brought some along when i started out last evening. but it’s all gone198 now. if you fellows are going to eat again—of course maybe i should have brought more—but if you are going to eat again—”
“not until morning,” teddy announced. “and that won’t be for another six hours,” he added, looking at his wrist watch and noting it was shortly past midnight.
“oh, that’s all right,” said fatty good-naturedly. “i can wait. i have some chocolate candy i can eat.” he began chewing on this as he arranged his blanket on the ground.
“but how did you know we were here?” asked joe as he and his two chums stretched out again to go to sleep.
“i went over to your house, teddy,” said the fat boy. “your mother said you were over this way and intended to camp out all night. so i packed up my outfit, got hopper and came along. hope you don’t mind.”
“glad to have you,” welcomed teddy. “maybe you will bring us good luck.”
nothing further disturbed the boys that199 night. they were up early and breakfast was soon being cooked. fatty nolan insisted on helping to gather wood and carry water. the boys noticed he had a rope looped to his belt.
“that’s my lasso in case we see the deer,” fatty explained.
breakfast over, the boys once more took the trail. they were heading for oak forest and about half an hour after leaving camp they were crossing a large field in one corner of which several cows were grazing.
suddenly hopper began to bark and act excited.
“what’s the matter with him?” asked teddy.
“i don’t know,” answered fatty. “never knew him to get excited about cows before. here, hopper, where are you going?” he yelled as the dog, with loud barks, rushed for the herd of cows. “come back!”
but the hound did not obey. and then teddy and his chums saw the reason. in with the herd of cows, cropping grass as they200 were, stood an animal with branching horns.
“look!” yelled teddy. “the mystery deer! there he is!”
“golly! sure enough, it is the deer,” echoed joe.
“but the dog! the dog!” cried dick. “he’ll kill the deer! call him back, fatty!”
“here, hopper! hopper! come back!” ordered the fat boy. but the hound, with loud barks, was leaping toward the herd of cows in the midst of which was the strange deer.
the cows separated as the dog rushed toward them, leaving a cleared space in the middle of which stood the deer who threw up his head and looked at the oncoming dog.
“your dog will pull the deer down and kill him, fatty!” cried teddy. “can’t you bring him back?”
“i’ll try,” said the fat boy, running after his dog. “back, hopper!”
just when it seemed that the dog was about to jump on the deer, which seemed too201 frightened to run, a man suddenly leaped over the fence and took his place in front of the deer. there was something familiar about the man. and when he began swinging a rope in circles around his head teddy cried:
“it’s the lasso cowboy!”
it was, and in another instant the loop of the lasso had settled over the head of the big hound. with a quick jerk on the rope the cowboy pulled the dog off its feet.
“good work!” yelled teddy.
“now the deer is safe,” said dick.
“he lassoed your dog just in time, fatty,” said joe.
“yes, but i hope he doesn’t hurt him,” spoke the stout lad. “hopper is a good dog but he gets excited when he sees a deer.”
the lassoing of hopper seemed to have taken all the fight out of the dog. perhaps he would not, after all, have attacked the deer. but the cowboy was taking no chances.
as if sure the dog was no longer a danger,202 the cowboy took the lasso from the neck of the dog, who had been choked a little. and a moment later the cowboy had secured the deer with the same rope. he did it gently, however. then, having made the end of his deer lasso fast to the fence, the cowboy walked toward the boys and smiled.
“well,” he said, “i guess the chase is over.”
“is that your deer?” asked teddy.
“no, but i’m responsible for it and i’m glad i have it back. i want to thank you boys for what you did, trying to help capture this deer and i want to tell you i’m sorry i lassoed one of you. which one was it?”
“you lassoed me,” teddy said with a laugh. “but it’s all right. you didn’t hurt me any.”
“but why did you do it?” asked joe.
“it was all a mistake. i thought i saw the horns of my missing deer and i let go with my lasso. then i was ashamed of what i had203 done, the silly mistake i’d made, and i thought maybe you boys would blame me and make trouble. so i just got out of the way. i secured another lasso and i’ve been hunting this deer ever since.”
“if he isn’t your deer, whose is he?” demanded teddy in a puzzled voice.
“he belongs in oak forest,” was the answer. “that’s where i’m going to take him now.”
“won’t he get away again?” asked joe.
“no,” the cowboy said. “he will be put in a big, new paddock in the state park. there’ll be a lot of other deer there. it will soon be open to the public. this is one of the valuable deer to be used in stocking the paddock. it was my fault he got away and i had to catch him or lose my job.”
“how did it happen?” asked teddy.
“it was this way,” explained the cowboy, who said his name was jed blackton. “a lot of deer for the state forest were rounded204 up near the western ranch where i work. i was hired to go with the big trucks used to bring the deer here.
“just outside oakdale we stopped to water and feed the deer. this one got away. it was partly my fault for i had become fond of this critter and i was sort of petting him and not watching the gate on the truck.
“so this deer slipped out and ran away. the boss of the outfit was angry at me and told me i’d have to find the deer and take him to the state park or i would be out of a job. so i’ve been hunting the deer ever since.”
“did you know we were here hunting him?” asked dick.
“i didn’t know a thing about you boys,” said the cowboy. “i just happened to run across your trail several times. mostly i kept to my own trail, now and then getting a line on where the deer was. i heard last night he had been seen in this direction so i205 came over. sure enough, here’s the deer. it’s just chance that brought us together,” he added, nodding at the boys.
“well,” remarked teddy, “we’re glad you have your deer back again.”
“oh, it isn’t my deer. it belongs to the state park forest,” said the cowboy. “but i’m glad i won’t lose my job. now i guess i’ll get along and deliver the deer.”
“there isn’t any reward for the deer, is there?” asked joe.
“not that i know of. but if you boys have had to spend any money in your trailing of the deer, i reckon i can pay you. i won’t be out of a job as i was afraid i would.”
“oh, we don’t want any pay,” said teddy.
“it was fun,” said joe.
“one of the best mysteries we ever solved,” added dick.
“mystery?” spoke the cowboy wonderingly.
“yes. we called it the mystery deer,” said206 teddy. “and it was, for a while. but it isn’t any more. mrs. traddle is going to be mad, though,” he added.
“oh, on account of her garden,” said the cowboy. “well, i aim to settle with her. it was my fault the deer got in, i guess. and now i’ll bid you boys good-bye. it isn’t far from here to the state forest. the deer will soon be in the paddock with the others. that’s a good dog you have there,” said the cowboy to fatty nolan. “sorry i had to upset him to keep him from hurting the deer.”
“oh, that’s all right,” responded the stout lad. “hopper won’t mind.”
the deer hunt was over. the cowboy led the animal away, holding fast to the lasso rope around the animal’s neck. teddy and his chums returned home.
“well, it was a good mystery while it lasted,” said joe.
“yes,” agreed dick. “the girls are going to be disappointed, though. they didn’t have much to do with the deer mystery.”
207 “they had a little,” teddy remarked. “and maybe they may do more in the next one.”
“is there going to be another mystery?” asked dick.
“you never can tell,” said teddy benson.
