Disappointed at the result of the chase, but thankful they had not come in any closer contact with the skunk, the boys returned to their homes.  
Teddy tried to climb up the rope to get back into his room, but he made so much noise his father came out to see what was going on.
 
“I thought you were in bed,” remarked Mr. Benson.
 
“Oh, I was out With Joe and Dick after that deer.”
 
“Did you get him?”
 
“No, he got away.”
 
“Hum,” remarked Mr. Benson. “Seems to me you boys are going to a lot of trouble about a deer.”
 
174 “We don’t like to be stumped,” Teddy said.
 
“Hum. Well, I can understand that. But you’d better come in the front door instead of trying to climb that rope, Teddy.”
 
“Yes, I guess maybe I had,” Teddy agreed. “I’m going to make a rope ladder after we catch that deer. A rope ladder is much easier to climb.”
 
For the next two days the three boys, aided occasionally by the girls, made a search for the mystery deer. But though Teddy and his chums several times were sure they saw the trail of the animal in the woods and field owned by Mr. Mason, they could get no real glimpse of the deer itself.
 
Then one afternoon, when the three chums were scouting around, they saw the deer as it came out of the woods and began feeding in the meadow.
 
“There he is!” cried Teddy.
 
“Sure enough!” yelled Dick.
 
“Let’s cut him off!” shouted Joe. “Get between175 him and the woods and keep him out in the open. Then we can chase him down. Come on!”
 
Eagerly the three boys rushed forward, spreading out so as to place themselves between the deer and the forest. They were in a good position to do this as the animal was well out in the field.
 
For a short time, neither hearing, seeing nor scenting the boys, the deer continued to feed. Then his alert ears, eyes or nose told him something was wrong and, raising his head, shaking his horns and giving a defiant snort, he turned toward the woods.
 
But the boys were between him and this hiding place. With shouts they turned the deer back and he fled across the fields, out into the open.
 
“Now we’ll get him!” cried Teddy. “We’ll run him down if we have to keep up the chase all night.”
 
“We can’t stay out all night,” said Joe.
 
“Why not?” asked Teddy.
 
176 “We haven’t any blankets, not even a flashlight, and we have nothing to eat.”
 
“That last is important,” said Dick. “We have to eat.”
 
“I’ll tell you what we can do,” Teddy said. “Two of us will take the trail after the deer, Joe and I. Dick, you get to the nearest telephone and ask my mother to put up some food, some blankets and flashlights, and meet us with the car at Bailey’s Corners. That’s the little town about three miles from here. The deer is headed that way. We can keep on after him all night if we get some supplies. My mother will fix that for us. Hurry now, Dick!”
 
Teddy issued his orders like a soldier and they were soon being carried out.
 
Perhaps Dick Kelly might have wished he could keep on the trail of the mystery deer instead of having to go to a telephone to order supplies for the expedition. But if Dick wished this he gave no sign of it.
 
“All right, Teddy,” he answered. “I’ll177 go telephone your mother to bring our stuff to Bailey’s Corners. Do you think she will?”
 
“Of course she will,” Teddy declared. “She knows how much we want to capture this deer and solve the mystery.”
 
“All right,” said Dick. He set off on the run for the nearest telephone. Teddy and Joe raced after the deer. The animal was now evidently heading for open places instead of toward the woods.
 
“We have a good chance to catch him,” panted Teddy as he trotted along beside Joe.
 
“Do you think so?”
 
“Sure!” Teddy declared. “This is the best chance we’ve had yet. Come on! Step on it!”
 
Teddy and his chum were good runners. They often had taken part in cross-country races and this practice helped them to make good speed now. They had lost sight of the deer for the moment. But in a short time after taking the trail Teddy shouted:
 
“There he goes! Straight toward Bailey’s Corners!”
 
178 “And he isn’t going very fast,” said Joe.
 
The deer might not have been going as fast as he could run. But still he managed to keep well ahead of the two boys. Perhaps, the animal knew, also, he could “step on it,” when the need came.
 
But the sight of the animal gave Teddy and Joe new hope and they somewhat increased their speed hoping to catch up to the deer before it reached Bailey’s Corners.
 
This was a small settlement, about three miles from Mason’s woods and meadow, and about half way between another large patch of woodland which had been taken over by the state as a forest park.
 
“If the deer gets into Oak Forest,” said Teddy, “we’ll never be able to trail him. It’s too big a stretch of woods.”
 
“That’s right,” agreed Joe. “We must capture him before he gets there.”
 
So they continued the chase.
 
Meanwhile Dick had reached a farmhouse where there was a telephone. His arrival,179 somewhat out of breath and excited, caused a little stir in the house. Mrs. Nixon, the farmer’s wife, who was the only one at home, gave Dick permission to use the telephone. She could not help hearing what he said to Teddy’s mother.
 
At first Dick was so excited he could hardly talk straight. It was not surprising, therefore, that Mrs. Benson did not quite understand all Dick said nor what he wanted.
 
“Is this a joke?” she asked. “Teddy, you and Joe wanting me to bring you things for a night camp?”
 
“No, it isn’t a joke,” Dick said. “We are really on the deer’s trail. We’ll catch him this time.”
 
“Well, all right,” said Mrs. Benson after a short pause, “I will put some camping things for you boys in the car and bring them to you. But please tell Teddy to be careful.”
 
“I will,” promised Dick. “But you can tell him yourself, Mrs. Benson. Teddy and Joe are g............