That was enough! In another moment every scout was bounding down the trail in order to reach the spot first and win honor by knowing the track correctly.
Hester found these tracks first, and shouted to her friends, "This has small cloven feet, but there are only two legs, also! Now and then you can see where one track looks as if a hind foot had broken in on another one!"
"Oh, girls! That explains that other two-footed animal!" now exclaimed Julie, quickly.
"What, what?" demanded every one eagerly.
"Most likely the deer stepped daintily with its hind feet directly in the same track made by its forefeet. It said something about that in the book, you know."
"Do you think that is it, Gilly?" now asked several anxious voices.
"Exactly! I was hoping you'd find that out," agreed he.
"Well, does this creature show any unusual tendencies, girls, by which you can recognize it?" laughed Mrs. Vernon.
"Not a thing! It starts from the trail and goes right through the brush where we broke a way that day the skunk was killed, and it stopped to question nothing. It must have been in a hurry to get a drink," explained Joan.
The trail plainly led to the brook, and ended there. No sign of anything going back again could be found, although the girls looked carefully over the entire place. Then Julie thought she saw something in the soft soil upon the opposite bank. To make sure, she waded through the shallow but swiftly running water, and there, on the steep bank, she saw the tracks again.