“We want to see if he left a trail,” explained Teddy.

“Left a tail? Land sakes, why would a deer want to go and leave his tail behind?” asked the old lady.

“I mean any marks so we could go after him and find him,” Teddy explained.

“Oh, I understand. Like the Indians I used to hear my grandfather tell about. Well, look if you like. All you’ll see are a lot of paw marks. Or maybe I should say hoof marks, bein’ as how it’s a deer,” said Mrs. Traddle.

The boys did find plenty of hoof marks75 but they were so jumbled up, it was impossible to determine which way the deer had come into the garden or gone out.

75

“I know what we ought to do,” said Joe.

“What?” asked Teddy.

“Find that man with the lasso. If he wasn’t the owner of the deer he must have been after it. And maybe he would know how to trail it. Let’s go find him.”

“Where’ll we look?” asked Dick.

“Start with Fatty Nolan,” suggested Teddy.

It did not take them long to reach the small farm house where the fat boy lived. Fatty, who had just driven the cows to pasture after they had been milked, hurried toward the three boys.

“Hello!” he called with a good-natured grin. “Did you find that deer yet? I guess you didn’t. I didn’t either. I guess deers are hard to catch. I never chased one, but maybe that man with the lasso got him. Did you see him—whose deer was it—come on in, will76 you? I can go with you if you like and help look for the deer. He was a big one, wasn’t he?”

76

Fatty Nolan had to stop and take a breath after all this talk. He had a habit of running his words and sentences together in his conversation, but the boys understood.

“The deer hasn’t been caught yet, as far as we know,” Teddy said. “We came to see if you know that man with the lasso.”

“Never saw him before,” Fatty answered. “But let’s go look for him. Maybe he caught the deer last night.”

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