TEDDY IS LASSOED
Hurrying at his usual fast pace, as if to keep up with his fast
thoughts and talk, the fat lad ran after a man of whom Teddy and his
chums had only obtained a glimpse.
“Are you sure it was the same man, Fatty?” asked Joe.
“Oh, sure. Didn’t you see he had a rope?”
“Yes,” spoke Teddy, “but anybody could have a rope.”
“Maybe he’s after a stray cow,” suggested Dick.
“No, I’m sure he’s after the mysterious deer,” declared Fatty Nolan.
“Nobody around here goes after cows with a rope. Cows are easy to
drive. I drive ours. This is the lasso man. Come on, before he gets
away. He’ll take us to the deer!”
Teddy and his chums were not so sure of this. But they followed the
stout lad, smiling at his rapid manner of speaking. On the whole, they
rather liked him.
The man with the lasso had appeared so suddenly, seemingly from no
particular place, that the boys had scarcely a good chance to see him.
They obtained one look and then the man hurried down into one of the
many grassy hollows, that dotted the fields and meadows around there.
The boys were not in Mason’s meadow now, but in one belonging to
another of the many farmers who lived in and around Oakdale. Trotting
after Fatty Nolan, who was still in the lead, Teddy and his chums
finally caught up to him.
“Do you know who this man is?” asked Teddy.
“Sure,” the fat boy replied. “He’s the man with the lasso.”
“But do you know his name?” Teddy wanted to know.
Fatty Nolan shook his head and answered:
“No. I never saw him before yesterday. But I never forget anybody I
once see--even from the back. Besides, this must be the same man--he
had the same rope--I wonder where he went--come on--let’s hurry!”
“If we hurry any faster,” objected Joe, “we’re going to be all tired
out before we get anywhere.”
“That’s what I say,” agreed Dick. “Let’s take it easy.”
“You can go pretty fast for a fat boy,” complimented Joe as he ruffled
his red hair. It was beginning to get damp and curly now, for Joe was
perspiring.
“Yes, I always was pretty fast,” admitted Fatty Nolan. “First I tried
to get thin by running and hurrying. But it didn’t do any good. I kept
on getting fatter. So I hurry anyhow.”
“Well, there’s no special need for it,” decided Teddy. “We aren’t
going any particular place. We just want to catch up to this man and
find out if he is after the deer.”
“He’s after something or he wouldn’t have that rope,” was Joe’s opinion.
“And he hasn’t caught whatever he was after yesterday, or he wouldn’t
be out with his lasso again today,” decided Dick.
“I wonder who he is?” Teddy said.
“I think maybe he works on one of the farms around here,” answered
Fatty. “There are many hired men on the farms now. This is summer, and
there’s lots of work for hired men. My father is going to get one. I
help him but that isn’t enough, he says. What are you going to do?” he
asked as Dick Kelly threw himself on the grass behind some bushes.
“Take a little rest in this shade,” Dick answered. Dick, too, was
stout; not as fat as the Nolan boy, but stouter than either Teddy or
Joe.
“I guess we can all take a rest,” agreed Teddy. “I wish I had a
drink of water,” he went on as he wiped his sweaty forehead with his
handkerchief.
“There’s a spring not far from here,” said Fatty. “It’s over that
way--near those trees. I sometimes let our cows stop there and get
drinks.”
“I wouldn’t want to drink from a spring if cows drank from it,” Teddy
objected.
“There are two springs,” said the fat boy. “The big one is where the
cows drink. I wouldn’t want to drink there, either. But there’s a
smaller spring, above the one where I let the cows drink. That small
spring is nice and clean.”
“We’ll go there after we rest,” decided Teddy.
Joe was fumbling in his pocket and soon brought out a little paper bag.
He opened it, held it out to Teddy and said:
“Have some!”
“What are they?” asked Teddy.
“Gum drops. I bought them in Mrs. Traddle’s store while you and Dick
were out looking at the deer’s hoof marks in the garden.”
“Thanks!” murmured Teddy as he began chewing some of the gum drops.
“They’ll make me more thirsty. Candy always does. But it won’t matter
as long as we’re near a spring.”
“Have some, Fatty!” Joe invited.
“Well--er--yes--thanks--I will. Maybe I oughtn’t to eat any. Candy
makes you fatter they say, but I guess a couple of gum drops won’t,
will they?”
“Try ’em and see!” suggested Joe.
They finished the bag of gum drops, Fatty eating his share, and then
Teddy, taking a string from his pocket, began passing it around the
Nolan boy’s waist.
“What are you trying to do, lasso me?” laughed the stout lad.
“No,” said Teddy, “I was just trying to measure to see if those gum
drops had made you any fatter. I don’t believe they have. Not yet,
anyway,” he ended with a laugh in which the others joined.
“Oh, I guess candy doesn’t work that fast on me,” said Fatty.
Besides making Teddy more thirsty, the gum drops also increased the
thirst of the other boys. So, after waiting a little while to rest,
they went to the spring. Fatty Nolan acted as guide.
“I guess maybe that man with the lasso has gotten away from us,” Teddy
said as they neared the spring.
“Well, if we don’t find him today we may tomorrow,” said Dick. “It’s
getting too hot to hurry much.”
As Fatty had said, there were two springs in a little glade not far
from where Teddy and his chums had sat down to rest. The larger water
hole was rather muddy, and all about it were the hoof-marks of cattle.
But farther up, amid a little group of trees and bushes, was a small
spring. It bubbled out of the rocks into a natural rock basin.
Stretching out on the ground, the boys took turns drinking the clear,
cold water. Teddy took two drinks.
“Oh, that’s good!” he exclaimed as he rose to wipe off his lips. “Water
always tastes twice as good after you’ve been eating candy,” he added.
The boys stood silent for a moment near the spring. They were wondering
what to do next. Suddenly, from over the tops of some bushes behind
them, a rope came circling through the air. The loop of a lasso fell
over Teddy and, a moment later, he was pulled backward off his feet,
falling on a bunch of leaves.