Somehow, Margie and Lucy did not speak of the mysterious deer to Nellie, the other girls or to Mrs. Watson. Lucy and Margie hurried away from the scene of the little accident as soon as it was certain Nellie was only wet and frightened but not hurt.  
“I thought we had better not say anything about it being a deer that might have frightened Nellie,” said Lucy when the two were off by themselves.
 
“I thought the same,” agreed Margie. “Besides, we aren’t positive it was the deer.”
 
“No, but I believe it was,” said Lucy. “Only I didn’t see why we should tell everyone the secret.”
 
“Of course not,” agreed her chum. “The deer sort of belongs to our club. If we can97 find out about it by ourselves, instead of bringing in a lot of others, it will be more fun.”
 
“That’s what I think,” agreed Lucy. “But I wish I had been there when the deer looked out of the bushes across the brook.”
 
“And scared Nellie so she fell in,” added Margie. “It’s a wonder she didn’t know it was a deer.”
 
“That’s right. She just called it some big animal. But I’m sure the deer was around here. It must be here yet.”
 
“Sure,” agreed Margie. “Do you think, after we eat our lunch, we should try to find the deer? It would be a good joke on the boys if we found it first, wouldn’t it?”
 
“Just scrumptious!” laughed Lucy. “But I think maybe we had better not go off deer hunting by ourselves. That deer has horns and it might be dangerous.”
 
“Besides, we might get lost looking for it,” went on Margie. “The woods are thick and dark once you go a little way from Buttermilk98 Falls. But we can tell the boys about the deer and they can come here and hunt it.”
 
“Yes. And now let’s eat our lunches. I’m starved!”
 
“So am I!” assented Margie. “I have some lovely chicken sandwiches that mother put up for me.”
 
“I have only ham sandwiches,” said Lucy. “But I have a big piece of chocolate cake.”
 
“I’ll trade you a chicken sandwich for a piece of chocolate cake,” Margie offered.
 
“That will make it just right!” laughed Lucy. She ran ahead of Margie but suddenly came to a stop.
 
“What’s the matter?” asked Margie.
 
“Isn’t this the place where we left our lunch?” asked Lucy.
 
“Yes, right there by that big rock,” said Margie.
 
“Well, it isn’t here now!” went on Lucy.
 
“What! Has somebody taken our lunch?” cried Margie.
 
99 “I don’t know whether or not anybody has taken it,” spoke Lucy as she looked around. “But our lunch is gone. There is nothing left of it but some crumbs and paper!”
 
“Then somebody ate our lunch when we ran to see about Nellie falling in the brook!” cried Margie.
 
“Somebody—or some animal,” spoke Lucy as she continued to look about. “And from the way the paper is torn and scattered and from the marks here, I would say it was an animal, Margie.”
 
“What marks? What animal, Lucy?”
 
“Hoof marks of a deer,” replied Teddy’s sister. “That deer must have jumped the brook, after it scared Nellie, and it came here and ate our food.”
 
“Oh! Oh!” sighed Margie. “I didn’t know a deer would eat chicken sandwiches and lovely chocolate cake!”
 
“I didn’t either,” spoke Lucy. “But I guess they do. It’s too bad!” Her eyes were wide with excitement.
 
100 “I should say it is!” agreed Dick’s sister. “But what are we going to do?”
 
For a time it seemed as if the two girls would have to go without their picnic lunch. But Mrs. Watson, making the rounds to see that all the children were safe, suddenly noticed how upset Margie and Lucy were.
 
“What’s the matter?” Mrs. Watson asked.
 
“Someone took our lunch,” explained Margie.
 
“Oh, I hardly think anyone of our party would be so unkind as to do that,” said Mrs. Watson. “And there aren’t any boys along. Boys sometimes play those tricks, I know, but girls don’t.”
 
“I think it was an animal,” explained Lucy. But she did not speak of the deer.
 
Mrs. Watson heard the story of how Margie and Lucy had left their lunch on ............