“Get him in a trap,” said Mr. Crispen. He snapped the gnarled thumb and finger of his right hand sharply, as if the mysterious deer had already been caught. “A trap’s the thing for deer!”
“A trap?” questioned Teddy. And his chums also murmured:
“A trap?”
“Certainly,” went on the cobbler. “Easiest thing in the world. You set the trap, catch the deer and that’s the end of the mystery. What do you want to bother about heel plates for?”
“But the man with the star heel plates lassoed Teddy,” said Joe.
“That’s all right,” said the cobbler. He stopped to peel a little rubber cement from his left thumb nail. “You can trail that cowboy later. I don’t believe he had anything to do with the deer. But if you want to catch the critter that ate up Mrs. Traddle’s garden, a trap’s the thing.”
“But we don’t want to hurt the deer,” objected Teddy. “It might be a valuable animal and we could get a reward if we took it to the owner.”
“True enough,” murmured Mr. Crispen. “True enough and fair enough. I hope you get the reward. But I didn’t say anything about harming a deer you caught in a trap.”
“I thought traps always hurt the wild animals caught in them,” said Joe.
“So did I,” added Dick.