mysterious deer,” spoke Teddy.

41

“But the deer didn’t run out toward the meadow,” objected Joe. “We saw it go back down in the gully.”

“You can’t tell which way a deer will go,” Teddy declared. “They can swing around and double on their trail and do all sorts of queer things. Especially if they think somebody is after them.”

“Well, we weren’t after this deer,” laughed Dick. “It was more like he was after us.”

“Anyhow we have to go see what scared the girls,” decided Teddy. He held fast to his model plane, which, he was glad to note, did not appear to be much damaged. He and his chums hurried out of the woods into the open meadow.

“Nobody here,” announced Dick who was the first to reach it.

“Not a sign of the girls,” added Joe.

42 “Nor the deer, either,” said Teddy. “Maybe it was a false alarm.”

42

“But we heard the girls scream,” said Joe. “And we saw a deer. There’s something funny about it all. We’d better have a look around. But first I’m going to get my plane.”

“So am I,” said Dick.

The boys had noted the place where they had left the two toy model planes. But when they reached the spot of course the planes were gone. At first, Teddy and his chums thought perhaps they had mistaken the place. They cast about, searching in the grass, but no planes were to be found.

“But this is the place where we left them,” insisted Joe.

“How can you tell?” Teddy wanted to know.

“Here’s a piece of paper with my name on it,” Joe answered. He picked it up out of the tall grass. “I put the paper, with my name and address on it, on my plane,” he43 added. “That was in case it flew a long way and I couldn’t trace it. The paper says that whoever sends me word of finding my plane will get a dollar.”

43

“Say, that’s a good idea!” exclaimed Teddy. “I’m going to do that to my plane.”

“So will I,” decided Dick. “But how did the paper get here when 

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