“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 marks but they were so jumbled up, it was impossible to determine which way the deer had come into the garden or gone out.
“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, will you? I can go with you if you like and help look for the deer. He was a big one, wasn’t he?”