As Teddy, his chums and Mr. Crispen stood near the trap, the animal inside appeared to be making strong efforts to escape. It plunged about and struck the sides and ends of the trap with its horns and feet.
“That’s the way it’s been going on since daylight,” explained Mrs. Traddle. “If you hadn’t come when you did I was going to telephone you. I was getting sort of scared.”
“There is no danger,” said Mr. Crispen. He peered through a crack in the trap at the animal inside. So did the boys. They could not get a very good view. Though there were many cracks in the box trap, none of them was large enough to give a good view. But the boys and the cobbler had glimpses of an animal with brown and white hair and also with horns.
“That’s a deer, all right,” asserted the cobbler. “We’ve caught him just as I said we would.”
“The next thing,” said Teddy, “is to get him out of this trap and tie him up some place. He seems wild.”
“He is wild!” declared Mrs. Traddle. “He’s been wild ever since he was in that trap. I tried to quiet him but I couldn’t.”
“What did you do to quiet him?” asked Teddy.
“Well, I tried to whistle and make noises as I would to a dog. I don’t expect,” said Mrs. Traddle slowly, “they were the right sort of noises to make to a deer in a trap.”
“No,” said Mr. Crispen with a short laugh, “they weren’t. Not to a deer in a trap or out of a trap.”
“What kind of noises should you make to quiet a deer?” asked Mrs. Traddle.