Hurrying at his usual fast pace, as if to keep up with his fast thoughts and talk, the fat lad ran after a man of whom Teddy and his chums had only obtained a glimpse.
“Are you sure it was the same man, Fatty?” asked Joe.
“Oh, sure. Didn’t you see he had a rope?”
“Yes,” spoke Teddy, “but anybody could have a rope.”
“Maybe he’s after a stray cow,” suggested Dick.
“No, I’m sure he’s after the mysterious deer,” declared Fatty Nolan. “Nobody around here goes after cows with a rope. Cows are easy to drive. I drive ours. This is the lasso man. Come on, before he gets away. He’ll take us to the deer!”
Teddy and his chums were not so sure of this. But they followed the stout lad, smiling at his rapid manner of speaking. On the whole, they rather liked him.
The man with the lasso had appeared so suddenly, seemingly from no particular place, that the boys had scarcely a good chance to see him. They obtained one look and then the man hurried down into one of the many grassy hollows, that dotted the fields and meadows around there.
The boys were not in Mason’s meadow now, but in one belonging to another of the many farmers who lived in and around Oakdale. Trotting after Fatty Nolan, who was still in the lead, Teddy and his chums finally caught up to him.
“Do you know who this man is?” asked Teddy.