though margie and lucy ran fast, carrying the toy planes, they had a chance to look back to see what had frightened them. they both looked at the same time and margie said:
“it isn’t a cow that’s chasing us.”
“no, it isn’t a cow,” lucy agreed. “it hasn’t the horns of a cow. it looks more like a reindeer.”
“reindeers only come around christmas time—if you believe in them,” said margie. “besides, there wouldn’t be reindeers down here—only up at the north pole.”
“well, anyhow, it’s coming after us, whatever it is,” added margie. “come on! run fast!”
“oh, why doesn’t somebody help us?”39 cried lucy. “go on back, you old scarecrow you!” she shouted.
“it isn’t a scarecrow, whatever else it is,” said margie.
“i know it isn’t,” lucy admitted. “but i couldn’t think of anything else to call it. oh, goodie! here’s the fence. now we can crawl under and be safe.”
the girls reached a fence at one corner of mason’s meadow and lost no time in crawling below the first rail. they pushed their brothers’ airplanes through the fence ahead of them.
the grass was long and green at the place where margie and lucy had crawled under the fence. and, noting as they were on their hands and knees, that the grass was above their heads, margie said:
“why not stay here?”
“stay here?” exclaimed lucy.
“yes. we can hide here in the long grass until that animal has gone away. it can’t see us if we hide in the grass.”
40 lucy thought that was a fine idea. so the girls stretched out in the fragrant clover and timothy grass that would soon be hay. it was quiet and restful there and they felt sure the animal that had frightened them could not see them.
“but i wish the boys would come,” said margie.
“maybe they will,” added lucy.
teddy benson and his two chums lost no time hurrying out of the woods after they had found teddy’s lost plane. the frightened cries of the girls hastened their steps.
“that was margie’s voice,” decided dick. “my sister always yells that way when she’s frightened.”
“so does lucy,” said teddy.
“but what could have frightened them?” asked joe denton. “the voices sounded as if they came from the meadow. and we crossed the meadow a little while ago and there was nothing there.”
41 “unless it was that mysterious deer,” spoke teddy.
“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.”
“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.”
“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 the two planes are gone?”
“i took the paper off after i found my plane,” explained joe. “there wasn’t any need of it on the plane just now. i thought i put the paper in my pocket but it must have fallen on the ground. but, anyhow, it shows this is the place where we left our planes, dick, doesn’t it?”
“sure does. but where are the planes?”
“somebody’s been here and has taken them,” teddy said. “you would have done better to have left the paper on, joe.”
“maybe,” joe admitted. “this sure is queer. i say, fellows, look at this!” he cried as he pointed to a place where there was a44 bare spot in the meadow. scarcely any grass grew there and in the brown earth dick and teddy saw some peculiar marks.
“what are they?” asked dick.
“hoof marks of that deer!” exclaimed teddy as he got down on one knee to take a better look. “that deer has been here and not long ago. the marks are fresh.”
“and the girls have been here, too!” declared joe.
“how can you tell?” dick wanted to know.
joe pointed to some footprints. there were two sets of them. he bent down to examine them more closely.
“they’re small footprints,” went on joe, “about the size of the feet of margie and lucy. of course, other girls could have made these marks,” he admitted. “but when we know we heard margie and lucy yelling for help and find footprints of girls’ shoes here why, it’s pretty certain margie and lucy were here.”
45 “i think so, too,” admitted teddy. “the question is where are the girls now?”
“and where are our planes?” asked joe.
“and where is the deer?” added dick. “gosh, we’ve got three mysteries here instead of one, i guess.”
“look over here,” and teddy directed the attention of his chums to another bare patch. “the deer was here and he was sort of jumping around heavy. the hoof marks are deeper.”
teddy’s chums agreed that this was so and joe exclaimed:
“gosh, fellows, it looks as if that deer bashed up our planes and then made off with margie and lucy.”
“how could he do that?” teddy inquired.
“well, by jumping up and down on the planes, he could easily bash them to bits.”
“there’d be some pieces left,” dick argued.
“yes, i guess there would be unless the deer ate them,” joe had to admit.
46 “and how do you figure the deer took the girls away?” asked teddy.
“on his back, maybe,” declared joe. “he was a pretty big deer, and he acted sort of savage. i’m sure that’s what happened. the deer broke our toy planes. then the girls came along and the deer rushed at them, tossed them over his head with his horns and—”
“and, i suppose,” laughed teddy, “margie and lucy landed on the deer’s back and went hitch-hiking.”
“well, i guess that couldn’t exactly happen,” replied joe with a funny little smile. “but something has happened, all right. model airplanes don’t disappear and deer don’t suddenly appear and sisters don’t vanish after they cry for help—not unless something has happened.”
“this sure is a mystery, fellows!” teddy exclaimed. “isn’t it queer how i always seem to get mixed up in a mystery? first it was a dog and then a monkey and now—”
47 “the way it looks to me,” interrupted joe, “is that you have all the mystery fun, teddy.”
“that’s right!” chimed in joe. “we hardly ever get a chance.”
“say, look here!” cried teddy. “that’s right. but you fellows are going to be in on this mystery. how about forming a mystery club? just us three?”
“swell!” exclaimed joe.
“all right,” went on teddy. “then the deer mystery club is hereby formed. what’s the first order of business?”
“i think,” said joe, “we ought to notify the police that our toy planes are missing.”
“and so are margie and lucy,” said teddy. “the girls ought to come first. if they have really disappeared, i think we should—”
he was interrupted by a loud voice shouting:
“get out of there! get out of my meadow! get out!”
