23

“Like what?” asked Joe.

“Like the horns of a deer,” Teddy answered. “Fellows, I think what scared us was a deer.”

“Scared? Who’s scared?” asked Dick.

“Weren’t you?” asked Teddy. “I was. And from the way you and Joe ducked, I’ll say you were scared, too.”

“Well, I was for a second, I guess,” admitted Dick. “At first, I thought it was a bobcat.”

“What would a lynx be doing in Mason’s woods?” asked Joe. “No one ever saw a wild animal in here.”

“Then what does Teddy mean by talking about a deer?” asked Dick. “Now I come to think of it, that animal did look something like a deer. It ran and jumped fast enough to be a deer, anyhow. But what would a deer be doing in Mason’s woods?”

24 “That’s what we have to find out,” Teddy said.

24

“You mean it might be another of those—those mysteries?” asked Joe.

“It might,” admitted Teddy. “Anyhow, isn’t it queer that we should meet a deer here.”

“I guess that deer—if it was a deer,” said Dick, “was as scared as we were. It ran like a streak of light. Must have been lying down back of that big rock where Teddy’s airplane is. And when we started down it caught our scent, got scared and leaped up to run away.”

“The question is, where did it run?” asked Joe, looking off through the dark woods. “It isn’t in sight.”

“Maybe we can trail it,” suggested Teddy. “But first I’m going to get my plane. Then we can look for the deer. If we don’t find it, so much the more mystery.”

“And if we find it the mystery will be solved,” said Joe.

25 “Maybe not,” spoke Teddy. “I don’t see how a deer got in these woods. It might have escaped from a circus. But, as a rule, they don’t carry deer in a circus. They aren’t strange enough animals. And nobody around here keeps deer that I know of.”

25

The other boys admitted they knew of no 

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