"Are they, Gilly?" asked the girls as the Judge came up.
He pretended to study them carefully, and then said: "I shall have to wait and compare them with those in the book."
"Maybe it is a reindeer?" suggested Betty, eagerly.
"Mercy no! We don't have reindeers south of the Pole!" declared her sister.
"Look here, girls! This creature only had two legs—it left only two hoofmarks, one for each side," cried Judith now.
"Then I know what it was! It was that familiar animal that carries a pitchfork, smells of sulphur and is known to have hoofs," retorted Julie, making them all laugh merrily.
"I'm sure I have no desire to trail him!" said the Captain, holding up both hands as if to ward off such a danger. "Let him go to his lair in peace!"
"All joking aside, girls, this is a queer track—only two feet instead of four. Let's follow and see where it goes," suggested Mr. Gilroy.
So they trailed the plainly visible tracks, and after a distance, Julie said: "Whatever it is, it couldn't have traveled so far as this if it was a cripple. It just couldn't walk on two hind legs all this way."
Mr. Gilroy had to laugh loudly at this, but he said, "No, but don't give up hope! You may stumble right over the prostrate buck."