“I thought we had better not say anything about it being a deer that might have frightened Nellie,” said Lucy when the two were off by themselves.
“I thought the same,” agreed Margie. “Besides, we aren’t positive it was the deer.”
“No, but I believe it was,” said Lucy. “Only I didn’t see why we should tell everyone the secret.”
“Of course not,” agreed her chum. “The deer sort of belongs to our club. If we can97 find out about it by ourselves, instead of bringing in a lot of others, it will be more fun.”
“That’s what I think,” agreed Lucy. “But I wish I had been there when the deer looked out of the bushes1 across the brook2.”
“That’s right. She just called it some big animal. But I’m sure the deer was around here. It must be here yet.”
“Sure,” agreed Margie. “Do you think, after we eat our lunch, we should try to find the deer? It would be a good joke on the boys if we found it first, wouldn’t it?”
“Just scrumptious!” laughed Lucy. “But I think maybe we had better not go off deer hunting by ourselves. That deer has horns4 and it might be dangerous.”
“Besides, we might get lost looking for it,” went on Margie. “The woods are thick and dark once you go a little way from Buttermilk98 Falls. But we can tell the boys about the deer and they can come here and hunt it.”
“Yes. And now let’s eat our lunches. I’m starved!”
“I have only ham sandwiches,” said Lucy. “But I have a big piece of chocolate cake.”
“I’ll trade you a chicken sandwich for a piece of chocolate cake,” Margie offered.
“That will make it just right!” laughed Lucy. She ran ahead of Margie but suddenly came to a stop.
“What’s the matter?” asked Margie.
“Isn’t this the place where we left our lunch?” asked Lucy.
“Yes, right there by that big rock,” said Margie.
“Well, it isn’t here now!” went on Lucy.
“What! Has somebody taken our lunch?” cried Margie.
99 “I don’t know whether or not anybody has taken it,” spoke7 Lucy as she looked around. “But our lunch is gone. There is nothing left of it but some crumbs8 and paper!”
“Then somebody ate our lunch when we ran to see about Nellie falling in the brook!” cried Margie.
“Somebody—or some animal,” spoke Lucy as she continued to look about. “And from the way the paper is torn and scattered9 and from the marks here, I would say it was an animal, Margie.”
“What marks? What animal, Lucy?”
“Hoof marks of a deer,” replied Teddy’s sister. “That deer must have jumped the brook, after it scared Nellie, and it came here and ate our food.”
“Oh! Oh!” sighed Margie. “I didn’t know a deer would eat chicken sandwiches and lovely chocolate cake!”
“I didn’t either,” spoke Lucy. “But I guess they do. It’s too bad!” Her eyes were wide with excitement.
100 “I should say it is!” agreed Dick’s sister. “But what are we going to do?”
For a time it seemed as if the two girls would have to go without their picnic lunch. But Mrs. Watson, making the rounds to see that all the children were safe, suddenly noticed how upset Margie and Lucy were.
“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Watson asked.
“Someone took our lunch,” explained Margie.
“Oh, I hardly think anyone of our party would be so unkind10 as to do that,” said Mrs. Watson. “And there aren’t any boys along. Boys sometimes play those tricks, I know, but girls don’t.”
“I think it was an animal,” explained Lucy. But she did not speak of the deer.
Mrs. Watson heard the story of how Margie and Lucy had left their lunch on the ground, near the rock, while they ran to see what had happened to Nellie.
“Very likely some animal, a fox, perhaps,101 or a raccoon, came along and thought your picnic lunch was for him,” said Mrs. Watson. “Never mind, my dears. Nearly every girl brings more lunch than she can eat to these little picnics of ours. I am sure some of them will be glad to share with you.”
When the plight11 of Margie and Lucy became known12, they had so many offers of sandwiches, cake and other things that they could not have eaten it all if they had tried.
“My! We never had so many adventures before on any of our picnics,” said Mrs. Watson when lunch time was over. “What with Nellie falling in the brook and food mysteriously disappearing it was all quite exciting. What sort of an animal was it you think scared you, Nellie?”
“Well, I can’t be sure of that, but I think it was an elephant,” Nellie answered. And while the others laughed she said: “Well, it COULD be an elephant, couldn’t it?”
“Of course it could,” said Mrs. Watson. “For elephants have been known to escape102 from circuses. But I hardly think it was, Nellie. It might have been a cow or a dog.”
“Do dogs have horns?” asked Nellie, who was about seven years old.
“Not that I ever heard of,” laughed Mrs. Watson.
“Then it was a cow,” said Nellie. “’Cause I saw horns.”
“More likely it was a cow,” agreed Mrs. Watson. “But a cow wouldn’t hurt you.”
“It didn’t hurt me but it scared me,” stated the little girl. She was quite dry by this time, for Mrs. Watson had made her take off her outer garments13 which had dried in the sun and wind.
When Nellie spoke of a “cow,” Margie and Lucy looked quickly at each other. They felt sure the animal with horns, which had so frightened Nellie as to cause her to fall into the brook, was not a cow but the mysterious deer.
When the picnic was over, Margie and103 Lucy hurried to their homes, which were close together.
“We want to tell the boys about the deer being near Buttermilk Falls,” said Margie.
“Then they can go look for it,” said Lucy.
But neither Teddy, Dick nor Joe was at home when the girls reached town.
“They started off early this morning, before you went to the picnic,” said Mrs. Benson. “They haven’t come back yet.”
“Didn’t they come home to lunch?” asked Lucy.
“No,” said her mother. “But that is nothing to worry about. Teddy said he might not be back. And he has money so he can buy a glass of milk and a sandwich if he needs it. Why are you so anxious about the boys?”
“We want to tell them about the mysterious deer,” said Lucy, as she and Margie related14 the story of the afternoon’s adventures.
Meanwhile Teddy and his chums were starting to have some adventures of their104 own. They had come back to town after the strange lassoing of Teddy near the spring. They went to the cobbler shop of Mr. Crispen.
“Heel15 plates, eh?” questioned the old shoe-maker as he looked up from his bench at the boys. “Yes, I have some.”
“Have you any with a star on?” asked Teddy.
“I had just one pair like that,” Mr. Crispen answered. “But I sold ’em, day afore yistiday. Sort of funny, it was, too. I had ’em in stock16 a long time. But nobody seemed to want that pattern.
“Then, day afore yistiday, all of a sudden6, a young fellow came in here and bought ’em. Said he sort of fancied17 ’em. So I sold ’em to him.”
“Do you know who he was?” asked Joe, eagerly.
“Well, I don’t know him, exactly. But I got his name down somewhere. He said he wanted another pair of star heel plates and105 I said I’d send and get some. So I took his name to send a postal18 to him when they come. I got it somewhere—I mean his name.”
“What sort of a man was he?” asked Teddy.
“Oh, sort of tall and thin. Funny part of it was he had a long rope with him, sort of a lasso I took it to be. He might be one of them Wild Westerners19 for all I know. I got his name some place around here.”
While Mr. Crispen was getting up from his bench to look for the name and address of the buyer of the star heel plates, Teddy whispered20 to his chums:
“We’re on his trail21! We have the heel plate clue22! Maybe now we can trace23 the mysterious deer!”
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1
bushes
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| n.灌木（丛）( bush的名词复数 )；[机械学]（金属）衬套；[电学]（绝缘）套管；类似灌木的东西（尤指浓密的毛发或皮毛） | |
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2
brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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3
added
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| adj.更多的，附加的，额外的 | |
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4
horns
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| n.角( horn的名词复数 )；号；角质；（蜗牛等的）触角 | |
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5
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sudden
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| n.突然，忽然；adj.突然的，意外的，快速的 | |
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7
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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8
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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9
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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10
unkind
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| adj.不仁慈的，不和善的 | |
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11
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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12
known
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| adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的 | |
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13
garments
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| 服装，衣着； （一件）衣服( garment的名词复数 ) | |
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14
related
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| adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的 | |
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15
heel
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| n.脚后跟，踵，后部，倾侧；vt.尾随，装以鞋跟，倾侧，追赶；vi.紧随，用脚后跟传球 | |
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16
stock
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| n.存货，储备；树干；血统；股份；家畜；adj.存货的；平凡的，惯用的；股票的；畜牧的；vt.进货，采购；储存；供给；vi.出新芽；进货 | |
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17
fancied
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| adj.想象的；幻想的 | |
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postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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19
westerners
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| n.西部人( westerner的名词复数 )；西方人，欧美人 | |
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20
whispered
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| adj.耳语的，低语的v.低声说( whisper的过去式和过去分词 )；私语；小声说；私下说 | |
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21
trail
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| n.踪迹，痕迹，一串，尾部，小径，尾，持枪姿势；vt.拖，尾随，追踪，落后于 | |
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22
clue
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| n.线索；提示；词语 | |
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23
trace
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| n.痕迹，踪迹，微量；vt.追踪，找出根源，描绘；vi.追踪 | |
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