Then some animal, with large ears and an upraised tail, sprang from behind the rock and made straight for Teddy Benson. “Look out!” yelled Dick. “Look out!” CHAPTER III MYSTERY DEER Teddy Benson ducked just in time. Warned by Dick’s cry, the young lad stooped down so quickly that he sprawled on the pine needles that covered the hard earth. A moment later a lithe, tawny body sprang over Teddy, rushed between Joe and Dick and was lost to sight in the darkness of the small forest. For a moment after this strange happening, neither of the chums did or said anything. Then Teddy, who scrambled to his feet, asked his friends: “Did you see what I saw?” “I saw something--some animal,” replied Joe. “But it went past me so fast--like your airplane, Teddy--that I don’t know whether it was a dog or a calf.” “It wasn’t a dog,” declared Dick. “How do you know?” asked Joe. “Because if it was a dog it would have barked. And it wasn’t a calf.” “How do you know that?” Teddy asked. “If it was a calf,” reasoned Dick, “it would have bleated. Besides, what would a farmer’s calf be doing in these woods?” “I guess you’re right there,” Teddy agreed. “Of course, a farmer’s calf could have strayed into these woods. But it ran too fast for a calf.” “And it jumped better than any calf I ever saw,” reported Dick. “Why, it jumped right over you, Teddy.” “Yes, I saw that. I also saw something else.” “What?” his two chums wanted to know. Teddy Benson arose and brushed the dry, brown pine-needles off his clothes. Then he looked back into the gully and made sure his white-winged airplane was still in sight. It was so Teddy went on: “I saw some horns and they weren’t the kind of horns a calf wears. They were quite different--branching horns, you know.” “Like what?” asked Joe. “Like the horns of a deer,” Teddy answered. “Fellows, I think what scared us was a deer.” “Scared? Who’s scared?” asked Dick. “Weren’t you?” asked Teddy. “I was. And from the way you and Joe ducked, I’ll say you were scared, too.” “Well, I was for a second, I guess,” admitted Dick. “At first, I thought it was a bobcat.” “What would a lynx be doing in Mason’s woods?” asked Joe. “No one ever saw a wild animal in here.” “Then what does Teddy mean by talking about a deer?” asked Dick. “Now I come to think of it, that animal did look something like a deer. It ran and jumped fast enough to be a deer, anyhow. But what would a deer be doing in Mason’s woods?” “That’s what we have to find out,” Teddy said. “You mean it might be another of those--those _mysteries_?” asked Joe. “It might,” admitted Teddy. “Anyhow, isn’t it queer that we should meet a deer here.” “I guess that deer--if it was a deer,” said Dick, “was as scared as we were. It ran like a streak of light. Must have been lying down back of that big rock where Teddy’s airplane is. And when we started down it caught our scent, got scared and leaped up to run away.”