Besides the Mystery Club, the boys had a Secret Society. Instead of leaving by the front or back doors to attend sessions, it was one of the rules they should slide down a rope from their bedroom windows. And the boys took turns going quietly after dark, signalling to one another by tossing gravel against a window and giving the tree-toad whistle.
There was no reason why Teddy and his chums could not have gone out the front or back doors to the meetings of the Secret Club.
Their parents would probably have made no objections, since the existence of the club was known to them.
But, somehow, it seemed much more fun to go to a meeting of the Secret Club after a summons by thrown gravel, a strange whistle and after sliding down a rope.
So Teddy got his rope out of a closet where he kept it hidden, fastened one end firmly to his bed and tossed the other end out of the window. It was no trick at all to go down it hand-over-hand to the ground where Dick was waiting in the shadow of some bushes.
“So you sighted the deer, did you?” asked Teddy as he and Dick made their way down through the back yard and across lots.
“Joe did,” Dick answered. “We had been downtown and were on our way home by the back way, through the little patch of woods near Fountain Park when Joe saw the deer. I had left him but he came running after me to tell me. Then he said he’d keep the deer in sight and I was to come for you.”
“So you did,” agreed Teddy. “But do you think that deer is going to stay in one place while Joe watches him, and until you and I get there?”
“Joe thought maybe he would,” said Dick. “Joe said the deer was feeding right in that little patch of woods, and acted as if he were going to stay there a while.”
“Well, maybe he will,” Teddy said. “Golly! This is swell! We have a good chance to get that deer now!”