teddy benson and his two chums were so surprised, for a moment, at hearing the ordering voice that they made no move to obey. they assumed, of course, the order was for them. though it was the first time they had ever been told to get out of mr. mason’s meadow. but the voice cried again:
“get out, i tell you! i don’t want you in my meadow spoiling the fodder. next i know you’ll be eating all my corn and beans! get out before i get my gun!”
“say, he can’t mean us!” exclaimed teddy. “mr. mason wouldn’t talk that way to us.”
“besides,” added joe. “we aren’t hurting his meadow fodder.”
“and we surely aren’t going to eat his49 corn and beans,” said dick. “what’s he mean—talking about getting his gun?”
“i have it!” suddenly exclaimed teddy. “mr. mason must mean the mysterious deer. he’s trying to drive the deer away. they eat garden crops, you know.”
“but is this mr. mason?” asked joe.
the boys learned, a few seconds later, that it was mr. mason, owner of the meadow, who had been so angrily shouting. they saw him as they walked up out of a little hollow to the top of a small hill. they also saw the farmer throwing stones at some object they could not see.
“it must be the deer,” said teddy.
just then mr. mason turned and caught sight of the three boys. he walked toward them, asking:
“is that your deer that’s been running around my meadow?”
“no, sir,” answered teddy, “it isn’t ours.”
“did you see a deer?” asked joe.
50 “i certainly did. quite a big one, too.”
“did it have any girls on its back?” asked dick.
“girls? land sakes, what do you mean? what girls?” asked mr. mason, much surprised.
“my sister, and teddy’s,” explained dick. “did you see them on the deer’s back?”
“i should say not! what do you think it was? a circus deer?”
“it’s a mystery deer,” said teddy.
“oh, then it is your deer!” cried mr. mason. “why didn’t you say so at first? i don’t like deer, mystery or any other kind, making free with my farm. where did you get this deer, anyhow?”
“we didn’t get him. he isn’t ours. we just saw him,” said teddy. “which way did he go?”
“i stoned him back into the woods,” said mr. mason. “oh, i didn’t hit him with any stones,” he was quick to add. “i wouldn’t hit any animal with stones. i just pegged a51 few rocks up close to him, so he’d know he wasn’t wanted. he went for the woods in high gear. but what do you fellows know about this deer? and what do you mean,” he continued, looking at dick, “by girls on the deer’s back?”
“well, my sister has disappeared,” said dick. “so has teddy’s. and two of our toy airplanes are missing. we found a place where the deer had been jumping around in your meadow.”
“and we found a place, near there, where the girls had been,” put in teddy. “we thought maybe the deer went for the girls and got them on his back and—”
“say,” laughed mr. mason, “you’re teddy benson, aren’t you? the boy who was mixed up with a mystery dog?”
“yes,” teddy admitted, “i was. and so was my sister.”
“and now you’ve got a mystery deer on your trail. well, my boy, there were no girls on the back of the deer i saw. so you needn’t52 worry about that. but how did you come to see this deer, anyhow? and where is he from?” asked mr. mason.
the boys told of first seeing the deer when they went in the woods to look for teddy’s plane. as to where the deer had come from, they could give no information.
“most likely from a circus,” decided mr. mason as he listened to the boys’ story.
“but there hasn’t been any circus around here,” teddy objected.
“that’s so,” agreed the farmer. “well, anyhow, there’s a deer around here and i’ll have to notify the game warden to get rid of him. there may be more than one of the animals. i can’t afford to have my crops ruined.”
“we thought you said something about getting your gun,” said teddy.
“oh,” laughed mr. mason, “that was just to scare the pesky deer. i wouldn’t have shot him. in the first place, it’s against the53 law to shoot deer now. out of season, you know.”
“yes,” murmured teddy.
“and in the second place,” went on the farmer, “i wouldn’t shoot a deer, anyhow. all i wanted was to scare him off my place, and i think i did; either with the stones which didn’t hit him, or by my talk of the gun. of course, it was only talk,” he resumed with a laugh. “but sometimes strong talk does a lot of good.”
“do you want us to let you know if we see that deer again?” asked joe.
“if it’s on my land, yes. but i don’t believe it will come back.”
“you haven’t any idea whose deer it might be, have you?” asked dick.
“not the least in the world, my boy. either it got away from a circus or a traveling show, or else it must have made its way here from a long distance. there is no deer country around here.”
54 “so it’s a sort of mystery, isn’t it?” asked teddy.
“you’re right there, my boy. it sure is a mystery.”
“well, we’re going to solve it!” teddy declared as he and his chums started toward their homes.
“i wish you luck,” called mr. mason. “i say!” he called as he turned back. “i just happened to think maybe that deer got loose out of a railroad car. he might be one of a large shipment of deer from one place to another and he got out. ask the railroad freight or express agent.”
“we will,” promised joe.
the three boys walked slowly across the big meadow back toward the road that led to oakdale. they were talking of what had happened and joe and dick were wondering what had become of their planes. dick and teddy were also rather anxious about their sisters.
but since mr. mason had laughed at the55 idea that the deer might have carried the girls off on his back, the boys no longer gave it any serious thought.
“i guess the girls just got scared at seeing the deer and ran away,” suggested joe.
“what about our planes?” asked dick.
joe didn’t answer. but there was no need. for a little later the three boys heard their names called from beyond a fence. lucy and margie bobbed into sight, each one with a plane in her hands.
“oh, so that’s what happened?” asked dick.
“yes, we found your planes,” margie said.
“and did you get chased by a deer?” asked lucy.
“no, the deer didn’t chase us. we chased the deer,” said teddy. this was not strictly true, for there was a time when the deer seemed very much to be chasing the boys. but at least the chums had seen mr. mason make the deer run away.
56 “whose deer is it?” asked lucy.
“that’s what our club is going to find out,” said teddy.
“your club?” chorused the two girls.
“the mystery club,” explained joe.
then, of course, the girls had to be told more about it. they teased to be made members but, for a time, the boys refused. then joe, who had no sister and was rather neutral, said:
“couldn’t they be sort of extra members? you know lots of clubs have women and girls as extra members.”
“oh, yes! could we be that?” begged margie.
after further discussion the boys agreed to this. the five walked along together, out of the meadow, talking about the mystery deer when, just as they were about to go from a lane into the main road, a fat boy, whom none of them knew, came out on the run, very much excited.
“hello! hello!” he greeted teddy and the57 others. he talked very fast, as if he were having a race with words. “did you see him?” he asked. “the man—the man with a rope—a long rope like a lasso? he was running over to the woods—i thought he was a cowboy and he asked me if i had seen him and i said who and he said a steer and i thought he was trying to make fun of me so i said no i hadn’t and say—oh, gosh! did you see him? he came this way and—oh, but you don’t know who i am, do you? well, i’m charlie nolan. everybody calls me fatty nolan and you can if you like. oh, say, there he is now! the man with the rope. look! i’m going to run after him!”
