CHAPTER XI
TROUBLE MAKES A LASSO
Doctor Bond must have seen how disappointed Teddy and Janet were, for he spoke very kindly as he asked:
"Who are you, and where are you from? Tell me about this sick pony with the funny name."
"He is Clipclap," answered Teddy, giving the name he had picked out for his new pet. "And we are the Curlytops."
"Yes, I can see that all right," laughed the doctor with a look at the crisp hair of the little boy and girl. "But where do you live?"
"At Uncle Frank's ranch," Janet answered.
"You mean Mr. Frank Barton, of the Circle O?" the doctor inquired.
"Yes, only we call it the Ring Rosy Ranch now, and so does he," explained Teddy.
"The Ring Rosy Ranch, is it? Well, I don't know but what that is a good name for it. Now tell me about yourselves and this pony."
This Teddy and Janet did by turns, relating how they had come out West from Cresco, and what good times they were having. They even told about having gone to Cherry Farm, about camping with Grandpa Martin and about being snowed in.
"Well, you have had some nice adventures!" exclaimed Doctor Bond. "Now about this sick—"
"Is some one ill?" enquired Mrs. Bond, coming in from the chicken yard just then, in time to hear her husband's last words, "Who is it?"
On the Western prairies when one neighbor hears of another's illness he or she wants to help in every way there is. So Mrs. Bond, hearing that some one was ill, wanted to do her share.
"It's a pony," her husband said with a smile.
"A pony!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, these Curlytop children found one in the cave among the rocks. It's on Circle O Ranch—I should say Ring Rosy," and the doctor gave Uncle Frank's place the new name. "These are Mr. Barton's nephew's children," he went on, for Ted and Janet had told the doctor that it was their father's uncle, and not theirs, at whose home they were visiting. Though, as a matter of fact, Ted and Janet thought Uncle Frank was as much theirs as he was their father's and, very likely, Uncle Frank thought so himself.
"Can't you come and cure the sick pony?" asked Teddy.
"He's groaning awful hard," went on Janet.
"Well, my dear Curlytops," said Doctor Bond with a smile, "I'd like to come, but, as I said, I don't know anything about curing sick horses or animals. I never studied that. It takes a doctor who knows about them to give them the right kind of medicine."
"I thought all medicine was alike," said Teddy. "What our doctor gives us is always bitter."
"Well, all medicine isn't bitter," laughed Doctor Bond, "though some very good kinds are. However, I wouldn't know whether to give this Clipclap pony bitter or sweet medicine."
"Maybe you could ask one of the cowboys," said Janet. "I heard Mr. Mason—Jim, Uncle Frank calls him—telling how he cured a sick horse once."
"Oh, yes, your uncle's foreman, Jim Mason, knows a lot about horses," said Doctor Bond.
"Then why don't you go with the children and get Jim to help you find out what the matter is with their pony?" suggested Mrs. Bond. "There isn't a regular veterinary around here, and they don't want to see their pet suffer. Go along with them.''
"I believe I will," said Doctor Bond. "I could perhaps tell what's the matter with the pony, and if I've got any medicine that might cure it, Jim would know how to give it—I wouldn't."
"We just found the pony in the cave," explained Teddy. "We were taking a walk and we heard him groan."
"Oh, I see," said Mrs. Bond. "Well, I hope the doctor can make him well for you," she went on, as her husband hurried back into the house to get ready for the trip.
He had a small automobile, and in this he and the children were soon hurrying along the road toward Ring Rosy Ranch. It was decided to go there first instead of to the cave where the pony was.
"We'll get Jim Mason and take him back with us," said the doctor.
Uncle Frank and his cowboys had come back from looking after the lost ponies, but had not found them. He, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Martin, were very much surprised when the Curlytops came riding up to the ranch in Doctor Bond's automobile.
"Well, where in the world have you been?" cried Mother Martin. "We were just beginning to get worried about you children. Where were you?"
"We found a pony!" cried Janet.
"And he's sick!" added Teddy.
"And his name is Clipclap!" exclaimed the little girl.
"And he's mine but Janet can have half of him, and we got him water in our hats," came from Teddy.
"And we got the doctor, too!" went on his sister.
"Well, I should say you'd put in quite a busy day," chuckled Uncle Frank. "Now let's hear more about it."
So the Curlytops told, and Doctor Bond said, even if he was not a horse doctor, he'd go out and look at the pony in the cave, if the ranch foreman would come with him.
"Of course I'll come!" cried Jim Mason. "I wouldn't want to see any pony suffer. And I've doctored quite a few of 'em, even if I don't know much about medicine. Come on, Curlytops!"
Jim Mason jumped on his own swift pony, saying he could make as good time over the rough prairie as Doctor Bond could in his automobile. The Curlytops rode in the machine with the physician. Uncle Frank and Daddy Martin went along, for they, too, were interested in the sick pony.
It did not take long to get to the cave amid the rocks. Jim Mason's horse reached there ahead of the automobile, and the foreman had gone into the cave and come out again by the time the Curlytops were getting out of the machine.
"Well, he's a pretty sick pony all right," said the foreman of the cowboys of Ring Rosy Ranch.
"Can you make him better?" asked Teddy anxiously.
"I don't know whether we can or not. It all depends on what sort of medicine the doctor has for curing poison."
"Has the pony been poisoned?" asked Uncle Frank.
"Looks that way," replied the foreman. "I guess he must have drunk some water that had a bit of poisoned meat in it. You see," he went on to the doctor, Mr. Martin and the children, "we have a lot of wolves and other pesky animals around here. They're too tricky to catch in traps or shoot, so we poison 'em by putting a white powder in some meat. Sometimes the wolves will drag a piece of the poisoned meat to a spring of water, and they must have done it this time. Then the pony drank the water and it made him sick."
"Will he die?" asked Janet.
"Well, I'll do my best to save him," said Doctor Bond, opening the black case of medicines he carried. "But how can you give medicine to a horse, Jim? You can't put it on his tongue, can you?"
"No, but I've got a long-necked bottle on purpose for that, and it's easy to pour it out of that bottle down a pony's throat. You mix up the dose, Doc, and I'll give it to the little animal."
This was done, but the Curlytops were not allowed in the cave when the men were working over the pony. But, in a little while, the foreman and Doctor Bond came out.
"Well, I guess your pony will get better," said the physician. "Jim gave him the medicine that will get the poison out of him, and in a day or so he'll be able to walk. But you'll have to leave him in the cave until then."
"Can't we take him home?" Teddy cried.
"Oh, no!" exclaimed the foreman. "But I'll send one of the men over with some straw to make him a soft bed, and we'll see that he has water to drink. He won't want anything to eat until he gets better. The doctor will come to see him to-morrow. Won't you?" he went on to Doctor Bond.
"Indeed I will!" promised the doctor, for he had taken a great liking to the Curlytops.
"Whose pony is it?" asked Daddy Martin.
"It's mine!" exclaimed Teddy quickly. "Mine and Jan's. We found him and his name's Clipclap."
"Well, that's a good name for a pony," said his father. "But still I don't know that you can claim every pony you find. This one may belong to Uncle Frank."
"No, it isn't one of my brand," said the owner of Ring Rosy Ranch. "It's a strange pony that must have wandered into this cave after he found he was poisoned. I reckon the poor thing thought he'd die in there, and maybe he would if the children hadn't found him."
"He couldn't have lived much longer without attention," said Doctor Bond.
"Then did we save his life?" asked Teddy.
"You did, by getting the doctor in time," answered his father.
"Then can't he be our pony?" asked the little boy.
"Yes, I guess he can," answered Uncle Frank. "If nobody comes to claim him you children may have him. And if anyone does come after him I'll give you another. I was going to give you each a pony, anyhow, as soon as you got used to the ranch, and I'll do it. If Ted wants to keep Clipclap, as he calls him, I'll give Janet another."
"Oh, won't I just love him!" cried the little girl.
"And I'll love Clipclap!" said Teddy.
There was nothing more that could be done just then for the sick pony, so the Curlytops and the others left him in the cave. The children were glad he did not groan any more. A little later Jim Mason sent one of the cowboys with some clean straw to make a bed for the little horse, and a pail of the cool, spring water was put where the animal could reach it.
For two days the pony stayed in the cave, and then Doctor Bond said he was much better and could be led to the ranch. Uncle Frank took Ted and Janet out to the rocks to bring back their pet, but he had to walk very slowly, for he was still weak from the poison.
"And hell have to stay in the stable for a week or so," said Jim Mason when Clipclap was safely at the ranch. "After that he will be strong enough to ride. While you Curlytops are waiting I'll give you a few riding lessons."
"And will you show me how to lasso?" begged Teddy.
"Yes, of course. You'll never be a cowboy, as you say you're going to be, unless you can use a rope. I'll show you."
So the children's lessons began. Uncle Frank picked out a gentle pony for them on which to learn how to ride, and this pony was to be Jan's. She named him Star Face, for he had a white mark, like a star, on his forehead.
On this pony Jan and Ted took turns riding until they learned to sit in the saddle alone and let the pony trot along. Of course he did not go very fast at first.
"And I want to learn to lasso when I'm on his back," said Teddy.
"You'd first better learn to twirl the rope while you're on the ground," said Jim Mason, and then the foreman began giving the little boy some simple lessons in this, using a small rope, for Teddy could not handle the big ones the cowboys used.
In a few days Teddy could fling the coils of his rope and make them settle over a post. Of course he had to stand quite close, but even the cowboys, when they learned, had to do that the foreman said.
"Well, what are you going to do now?" Teddy's father asked the little boy one day, as he started out from the house with a small coil of rope on one arm, as he had seen the cowboys carry their lariats. "What are you going to do, Ted?"
"Oh, I'm going to lasso some more," was the answer.
"Why don't you try something else besides a post?" asked one of Uncle Frank's men, as he, too, noticed Teddy. "Throwing a rope over a post is all right to start, but if you want to be a real cowboy you'll have to learn to lasso something that's running on its four legs. That's what most of our lassoing is—roping ponies or steers, and they don't very often stand still for you, the way the post does."
"Yes," agreed Ted, "I guess so. I'll learn to lasso something that runs."
His father paid little more attention to the boy, except to notice that he went out into the yard, where he was seen, for a time, tossing the coils of rope over the post. Then Jan came along, and, as soon as he saw her, Teddy asked:
"Jan, will you do something for me?"
"What?" she inquired, not being too ready to make any promises. Sometimes Teddy got her to say she would do things, and then, when he had her promise, he would tell her something she did not at all want to do. So Jan had learned to be careful.
"What do you want to do, Teddy?" she asked.
"Play cowboy," he answered.
"Girls can't be cowboys," Janet said.
"Well, I don't want you to be one," went on Teddy. "I'll be the cowboy."
"Then what'll I be?" asked Jan. "That won't be any fun, for you to do that and me do nothing!"
"Oh, I've got something for you to do," said Teddy, and he was quite serious over it. "You see, Jan, I've got to learn to lasso something that moves. The post won't move, but you can run."
"Do you mean run and play tag?" Jan asked.
Teddy shook his head.
"You make believe you're a wild cow or a pony," he explained, "and you run along in front of me. Then I'll throw my rope around your head, or around your legs, and I'll pull on it and you—"
"Yes, and I'll fall down and get all dirt!" finished Jan. "Ho! I don't call that any fun for me!"
"Well, I won't lasso you very hard," promised Ted; "and I've got to learn to throw my rope at something that moves, the cowboys say, else I can't ever be a real wild-wester. Go on, Jan! Run along and let me lasso you!"
Jan did not want to, but Teddy teased her so hard that she finally gave in and said she would play she was a pony for a little while. Teddy wanted her to be a wild steer, but she said ponies could run faster than the cattle, and Jan was a good runner.
"And if I run fast it will be harder for you to lasso me," she said, "and that's good practice for you, same as it is good for me when I practice my music scales fast, only I don't do it very much."
"Well, you run along and I'll lasso you," said Teddy. "Only we'd better go around to the back of the house. Maybe they wouldn't like to see me doing it."
"Who; the cowboys?" asked his sister.
"No, father and mother," replied Teddy. "I don't guess they'd want me to play this game, but I won't hurt you. Come on."
The little boy and girl—Teddy carrying his small lasso—went out to a field not far from the house, and there they played cowboy. As they had planned, Teddy was the cowboy and Janet the wild pony, and she ran around until she was tired. Teddy ran after her, now and then throwing the coil of rope at her.
Sometimes the lasso settled over her head, and then the little boy would pull it tight, but he was careful not to pull too hard for fear he might hurt Jan. Once the rope went around her legs, and that time Teddy gave a sudden yank.
"Oh, I'm falling!" cried Jan, and she went down in a heap.
"That's fine!" cried Teddy. "That's regular wild-wester cowboy! Do it again, Jan!"
"No! It hurts!" objected the little girl. "You pulled me so hard I fell down."
"I didn't mean to," said Teddy. "But I can lasso good, can't I?"
"Yes; pretty good," his sister agreed. "But you can't lasso me any more. I don't want to play. I'm going to the house."
"Did I hurt you much?" Teddy asked.
"Well, not such an awful lot," admitted Jan. "I fell on some soft grass, though, or you would have. Anyhow, I'm going in."
Teddy looked a little sad for a minute, and then he cried:
"Oh, I know what I can do! You stay and watch me, Jan."
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"You'll see," he answered "Here, you hold my lasso a minute."
Teddy ran off across the field, and when he came back to where his sister was still holding the coil of rope the Curlytop boy was leading by a rope a little calf, one of several that were kept in the stable and fed milk from a pail.
"What are you going to do, Teddy Martin?" asked the little girl.
"I'm going to play he's a wild steer," answered Teddy.
"Oh, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" cried Janet, much as her mother might have done. "You're not going to lasso him, are you?"
"I am—if I can," and Teddy spoke slowly. He was not quite sure he could.
The calf came along easily enough, for Teddy had petted it and fed it several times.
"He's awful nice," said Janet. "You won't hurt him, will you?"
"Course not!" cried Teddy. "I'll only lasso him a little. Now you come and hold him by the rope that's on his neck, Jan. And when I tell you to let go, why, you let go. Then he'll run and I can lasso him. I've got to lasso something that's running, else it isn't real wild-wester."
Jan was ready enough to play this game. She took hold of the calf's rope, and Teddy got his lasso ready. But just as the little fellow was about to tell his sister to let the calf loose, along came Uncle Frank and he saw what was going on.
"Oh, my, Teddy!" cried the ranchman. "You mustn't do that, Curlytop! The little calf might fall and break a leg. Wait until you get bigger before you try to lasso anything that's alive. Come on, we'll have other fun than this. I'm going to drive into town and you Curly tops can come with me."
So the calf was put back in the stable, and Teddy gave up lassoing for that day. He and Jan had fun riding to town with Uncle Frank, who bought them some sticks of peppermint candy.
Baby William had his own fun on the ranch. His mother took care of him most of the time, leaving Janet and Teddy to do as they pleased. She wanted them to learn to ride, and she knew they could not do it and take care of their little brother.
But Trouble had his own ways of having fun. He often watched Teddy throwing the lasso, and one afternoon, when Ted had finished with his rope and left it lying on a bench near the house, Trouble picked up the noose.
"Me lasso, too," he said to himself.
Just what he did no one knew, but not long after Teddy had laid aside the lariat, as the lasso is sometimes called, loud squawks, crowings and cackles from the chicken yard were heard.
"What in the world can be the matter with my hens?" cried Aunt Millie.
Ted and Janet ran out to see. What they saw made them want to laugh, but they did not like to do it.
Trouble had lassoed the big rooster!
CHAPTER XII
THE BUCKING BRONCO
With a small rope around the neck of the crowing rooster—which could not crow as loudly as it had before, because it was nearly choked—Trouble was dragging the fowl along after him as he ran across the yard.
"Trouble! Trouble!" cried Aunt Millie. "What are you doing?"
"Playin' cowboy!" was his answer. "I lasso rooster wif my rope, like Teddy catches post."
"Oh, you mustn't do that!" cried Aunt Millie, as she ran after the small boy and the dragging rooster.
"Cock-a doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, or, rather, it tried to crow that way, but it would get only about half of it out and then Trouble would pull the rope tight about the fowl's neck and the crow would be shut off suddenly.
"Gid-dap, pony!" cried Baby William, trotting along on his short, fat legs, making-believe, as he often did, that he was riding horseback. "Gid-dap! I lasso a rooster, I did!"
"Yes, and you'll kill the poor thing if you're not careful," panted Aunt Millie, as she raced after the little fellow and caught him. Then she gently pulled the rooster to her by means of the rope, and took it off the fowl's neck.
The rooster was bedraggled from having been dragged through the dust and the dirt, and it was so dizzy from having been whirled around by Trouble that it could hardly stand up.
Aunt Millie smoothed out its feathers and got it some water. The rooster drank a little and seemed to feel better. Then it ran off to join the other roosters and the cackling hens that had been watching what Trouble did, doubtless wondering what had gotten into the lassoed rooster to make it run around the way it did on the end of a rope. But it was Baby William who made all the trouble.
"You must never do that again," said Mrs. Martin when she came out of the ranch house and heard what her little boy had done. "That was very wrong, William, to lasso the poor rooster and drag it about with a rope around its neck."
"I not do it any more," promised Trouble. "But I want a lasso like Teddy."
"No, you're not big enough for that," his mother said. "You must wait until you are a little older. Don't bother the chickens any more."
"No, I only get de eggs," promised Baby William.
"And please don't lasso them, or you'll break them," put in Aunt Millie; but Janet thought her "eyes laughed," as she later told Teddy.
"No more lasso?" asked Trouble, looking at the rope his aunt had taken from the rooster's long neck.
"No more lasso!" exclaimed Mrs. Barton, trying not to smile, for the sight of the rooster, caught the way he had been, made even the older folks want to laugh. Ted and Janet did laugh, but they did not let Trouble see them. If he had he might have thought he had done something smart or cute, and he would try it over again the first chance he had. So they had to pretend to be sharp with him. The rooster was not hurt by being lassoed.
Afterward Trouble told how he did it. With the slip-noose of the rope in one hand and holding the rope's end in the other, Baby William walked quietly up behind the rooster and tossed the loop over its head. Then he pulled it tight and started to run, as he had seen the cow ponies galloping to pull down a horse or steer that needed to be branded or marked with the sign of the Ring Rosy Ranch. The rooster was very tame, often eating out of Aunt Millie's hand, so he was not afraid to let Trouble come up quite close to him.
One day, about a week after the Curlytops had found Clipclap in the cave, Jim Mason said he thought the pony was well enough to be ridden. Clipclap was brought out in the yard and Teddy and Janet went up to him.
The pony put his nose close to them and rubbed his head against their outstretched hands.
"See, he knows us!" cried Janet.
"And I guess he's thanking us for bringing him water," added her brother.
"And getting the doctor to cure him of poison," went on the little girl. "I'm glad he likes you, Teddy."
"And your pony likes you, too, Janet," said the little boy.
Janet's pony, Star Face, certainly seemed to like her. For he came when she called him and took lumps of sugar from her hand. He liked Teddy, too. In fact both ponies were very pretty and friendly and it would be hard to say which was the better. Janet liked hers and Teddy liked his, and that is the best thing I can say about them.
No one came to claim Clipclap. Though Uncle Frank spoke to a number of other ranchmen about finding the sick pony, none of them had ever seen Clipclap before as far as they knew. If he belonged to some other ranch it must have been far away.
"So you may feel that it is all right for you to keep your pony, Curlytop," said Uncle Frank to Teddy. "If anyone should, later, say it belongs to him, and can prove it, we'll give it up, of course."
"But I don't want to give Clipclap up!" Teddy cried.
"Well, maybe you won't have to," said his father. "But you must not keep what is not yours. Anyhow, if you should have to give up Clipclap Uncle Frank will give you another pony."
"There couldn't be any as nice as Clipclap—not even Janet's Star Face," declared Teddy.
He felt bad at the thought of having to give up his pet, but there was no need to, for as the weeks went on no one came to claim Clipclap, and Teddy counted him as his own.
By this time Teddy and Janet had learned to ride quite well for such little children. They knew how to sit in a saddle, up straight like an arrow, and not slouched down or all humped up "like a bag of meal," as Uncle Frank was wont to say. They knew how to guide their ponies by pulling on the reins to left or to right, according to which way they wanted to go.
Of course they could not ride very fast yet, and Mother Martin was just as glad they could not, for she was afraid, if they did, they might fall off and get hurt. But Teddy and Janet were careful, and they knew how to sit in the saddle with their feet in the stirrups.
"They're getting to be good little riders," said Jim Mason to Uncle Frank one day.
"I'll take 'em with me the next time I go for a short ride."
"Maybe we could find the bad Indians that took your horses, Uncle Frank," said Teddy.
"Well, I wish you could," said the owner of Ring Rosy Ranch.
The cowboys had not been able to get back the stolen horses nor find the Indians who had run them off. Other ranches, too, had been robbed and a number of head of horses and cattle had been driven away.
"We've looked all over for those Indians," said Uncle Frank, "but we can't find 'em. If you Curlytops can, I'll give you each another pony."
"I'd like Clipclap best though," announced Teddy.
"What could we do with two?" asked Janet.
"Oh, every cowboy or cowgirl, for that matter, has more than one horse when he can," said Jim Mason. "Then if one gets lame he has another to ride. But don't you Curlytops go off by yourselves looking for those bad Indians!" he warned them.
"We won't," promised Teddy. "Well only go with you or Uncle Frank."
"We don't find them," said the ranch owner. "I guess the Indians sold the horses and cattle and then they hid themselves. Well, I hope they don't take any more of my animals."
But there was more trouble ahead for Uncle Frank.
The Curlytops had a fine time on his ranch, though. When Teddy and Janet were not riding, they were watching the cowboys at work or play, for the men who looked after Uncle Frank's cattle had good times as well as hard work.
They would often come riding and swooping in from the distant fields after their day's work, yelling and shouting as well as firing off their big revolvers. But neither the Curlytops nor their mother were as frightened at this play of the cowboys as they had been at first.
"I wish I had a gun that would go bang," said Teddy one day.
"Oh, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" cried his sister, after the fashion of her mother. "If you had I'd never go riding ponyback with you—never again! I'd be afraid of you! So there!"
"Well, so would the Indians!" said Ted. However he knew he was too small to have a firearm, so he did not tease for it.
Sometimes, when Uncle Frank or his foreman, Jim Mason, went on short rides around the ranch, Teddy and Janet went with them on their ponies. Star Pace and Clipclap were two sturdy little animals, and were gentle with the children.
"Come on! Let's have a race!" Ted would call.
"All right. But don't go too fast," Janet would answer, and they would trot off, the ponies going as fast as was safe for the children.
Teddy generally won these races, for Janet, who was very tender-hearted, did not like to make her pony go as fast as it could go. Often, perhaps, if Janet had urged Star Face on she would have beaten her brother, for Clipclap still felt a little weak, now and then, from his illness.
One day a cowboy came in, riding hard from a far-off part of the ranch.
"I guess something is the matter, Jan," said Teddy, as they saw the horseman gallop past.
"What?" she asked as they noticed him talking to the foreman.
"Maybe he's found the Indians that took Uncle Frank's horses," her brother answered.
The children drew near enough to hear what the cowboy and the foreman were talking about.
"More horses gone!" exclaimed Jim Mason. "Well, we'll surely have to get after those Indians; that's all there is about it!"
"More horses stolen?" asked Daddy Martin, coming out just then.
"Yes," answered Jim Mason. "A lot of good ones. I guess more Indians must have run away from the reservation. We'll have to hunt them down!"
"Oh, I wish I could go!" sighed Teddy. "I'd like to be an Indian fighter."
"You'll have to grow a lot bigger," said his uncle, with a laugh.
Uncle Frank and some of the cowboys rode over the prairie, trying to find the stealing Indians, but they could not. Nor could they find the missing horses, either.
"It's a good thing Uncle Frank has lots of cattle," said Teddy that night when the cowboys came back to the ranch house, not having found the horse thieves. "If he didn't have he'd be poor when the Indians take his animals."
"He'll be poor if the Indians keep on the way they have been doing," said Aunt Millie. "I hope he can catch the bad men!"
Ted and Janet hoped so too, but they did not see how they could help, though Teddy wanted to. However he was kept near the house.
"Come on and see the bucking bronco, Curlytops!" called Uncle Frank to Teddy and Janet one day.
"What is it?" asked the little girl.
"A bucking bronco jumps up in the air with all four feet off the ground at once, and comes down as stiff as a board," explained Uncle Frank. "That isn't nice for the man that's in the saddle, though the cowboys know how to ride most bucking broncos, that are really sort of wild horses."
"I'd like to see 'em!" cried Teddy.
"You may," promised his uncle. "The cowboys have a bucking bronco out in the corral and they're taking turns trying to ride him. Come along if you want to see the fun."
It was fun, but some hard work, too, for one after another the cowboys fell out of the saddle of the bucking bronco as they tried to ride him.
Now and then one would stay on the wild animal's back longer than had any of his friends, not falling when the bronco leaped up in the air and came down with his legs as stiff as those of an old fashioned piano.
"Ki-yi! Yippi-i-yip!" yelled the cowboys, as they dashed about on the bucking bronco, swinging their hats or their quirts, which are short-handled whips, in the air over their heads.
They did not mind being thrown, and each one tried to ride the wild bronco. None could stay in the saddle more than a few minutes at a time though.
"Well, I guess I'll have to ride that animal myself," said Jim Mason, when all the other cowboys had tried and had fallen or jumped from the saddle. The foreman was a fine rider. "Yes, I guess I can ride that bronco," he said.
"Give the pony a chance to get his breath," suggested one of the cowboys. "I don't reckon you can ride him though, Jim."
"I'll try," was the answer.
The bronco was led to a corner of the corral, or stable yard, and tied. Then the foreman made ready to try to stay in the saddle longer than had any of his men, for when a bronco bucks it is like trying to hold on to a swing that is turning topsy-turvy.
Suddenly, as Teddy and Janet were looking at some of the funny tricks the cowboys were playing on one another, Uncle Frank gave a cry.
"Look at Trouble!" he exclaimed.
Baby William had crawled through the fence and was close to the dangerous heels of the bucking bronco.
CHAPTER XIII
MISSING CATTLE
For a moment none of the cowboys made a move. They were too frightened at what might happen to Trouble. If it had been one of their own friends who had gone into the corral where the dangerous bronco was standing, they would have known what to do.
They would have called for him to "Look out!" and the cowboy would have kept away from the animal. But it was different with Trouble. To him one horse was like another. He liked them all, and he never thought any of them would kick or bite him. The bucking bronco was most dangerous of all.
"Oh, Trouble!" exclaimed Janet softly.
"I—I'll get him!" whispered Teddy. "I can crawl in there and run and get him before that bronco—"
"You stay right where you are, Curlytop!" exclaimed Jim Mason. "We don't want you both hurt, and if you go in there now you might start that crazy horse to kicking. Stay where you are. I'll get Trouble for you."
"Maybe if I called to him he'd come," said Janet. She, too, spoke in a whisper. In fact no one had made a noise since Trouble had been seen crawling under the corral fence, close to the bucking bronco.
"No, don't call, Janet," said the foreman. "You might make the bronco give a jump, and then he'd step on your little brother. That horse is a savage one, and he's so excited now, from so many of the cowboys having tried to ride him, that he might break loose and kick Trouble. We've got to keep quiet."
The cowboys seemed to know this, for none of them said a word. They kept very still and watched Trouble.
Baby William thought he was going to have a good time. He had wandered out of the house when his mother was not looking. Seeing Ted, Janet and the cowboys down by the corral, he made up his mind that was the place for him.
"Maybe I get a horse wide," he said to himself, for he was about as eager over horses as his sister or brother, and, so far, the only rides he had had were when he sat in the saddle in front with them or with his father, and went along very slowly indeed. For they dared not let the horse go fast when Trouble was with them, and Trouble wanted to go fast.
"Me go get wide myse'f," he murmured, and then, when no one was looking, he slipped under the corral fence.
He was now toddling close to the heels of the bronco.
"Nice horsie," said Trouble in his sweetest voice. "I get on your back an' have nice wide!"
Trouble always had hard work to sound the r in ride. "Wide" he always called it.
Nearer and nearer he came to the bronco. The animal, without turning its head, knew that someone was coming up behind. Many a time a cowboy had tried to fool the savage horse that way, and leap into the saddle without being seen. But Imp, as the bronco was named, knew all those tricks.
He turned back his ears, and when a horse does that it is not a good sign. Almost always it means he is going to bite or kick.
In this case Imp would have to kick, as Trouble was too far behind to be bitten. And Imp did not seem to care that it was a little boy who was behind, and not a big cowboy. Imp was going to do his worst.
But Jim Mason was getting ready to save Trouble. Going around to the side, where he could not be seen so well, the foreman quickly leaped over the fence. And then he ran swiftly toward Trouble, never saying a word.
The bronco heard the sound of running feet. He turned his head around to see who else was coming to bother him and then, before Imp could do anything and before Trouble could reach and put his little hands on the dangerous heels, the foreman caught up Baby William and jumped back with him, out of the way in case Imp should kick.
And kick Imp did! His heels shot out as he laid his ears farther back on his head and he gave a shrill scream, as horses can when they are angry.
"No you don't! Not this time!" cried Jim Mason, as he ran back to the fence with Trouble. "And you must never go into the corral or near horses again, Trouble! Do you hear?" and the foreman spoke to Baby William as though very angry indeed. But he had to do this, for the little fellow must learn not to go into danger.
"Don't ever go in there again!" said the foreman, as he set Trouble down on the ground in a safe place.
"No, me not go," was the answer, and Baby William's lips quivered as though he were going to cry.
"Well, that's all right, old man!" said the foreman in kind tones. For he loved children and did not even like to hurt their feelings. "I didn't mean to scare you."
But he had scared Trouble, or, rather the sudden catching up of the little fellow and the pony's scream had frightened him, and Janet's baby brother began to cry, hiding his head in her dress.
But, after all, that was the best thing to make Trouble remember that he must not go in the corral, and he had soon forgotten his tears and was laughing at the funny tricks Imp cut up as Jim Mason tried to ride him.
The foreman, after he had carried Trouble safely out of the way, went back in the corral and jumped on the bucking bronco's back. Then Imp did all he could to get the man out of the saddle.
Around and around the corral dashed the cow pony, and when he found that Jim stuck on the horse began jumping up in the air—bucking as the cowboys call it. Even that did not shake the foreman to the ground.
Then, suddenly, the horse fell down. But it was not an accident. He did it on purpose, and then he began to roll over, thinking this, surely, would get that man off his back.
It did. But when Imp tried to roll over on the foreman, to hurt him, Jim Mason just laughed and jumped out of the way. He knew Imp would probably do this and he was ready for him.
Jim watched Imp, and as soon as the bronco stopped rolling and stood up again the foreman jumped into the saddle. This was too much for Imp. He made up his mind he could not get rid of such a good rider, so the horse settled down and galloped around the corral as he ought to do.
"Hurray! Jim rides him after all!" cried some of the cowboys.
"I told you I'd stick to him" said the foreman with a laugh.
"I wish I could ride that way," said Teddy, with a little sigh when Jim came out of the corral and left Imp to have a rest.
"Well, maybe you will some day," said the foreman. "You've got a good start, and there's no better place to learn to ride ponyback than at Ring Rosy Ranch."
One warm, pleasant afternoon, when they had played about the house for some time, amusing themselves at the games they were wont to pass the time with in the East, Jan called to her brother:
"Let's go and take a ride on our ponies!"
"All right," agreed Teddy. "Where'll we go?"
"Oh, not very far. Mother told us we mustn't go very far when we're alone."
"That was before we knew how to ride," declared the little boy. "I guess we ride good enough now to take long rides."
"But not now," insisted Jan. "We'll only go for a little way, or I'm not going to play."
"All right," Teddy agreed. "We won't go very far."
So they went out to the stable where their ponies were kept, and there one of the cowboys kindly saddled Clipclap and Star Face for the little Curlytops. Uncle Frank had given orders to his men that they were to let the children have the ponies whenever it was safe to ride, and this was one of the nicest days of the summer.
"Don't let 'em run away with you!" laughed the cowboy, as he helped Jan and Ted into their saddles.
"Oh, Clipclap and Star Pace won't run away!" declared the little girl. "They're too nice."
"Yes, they are nice ponies," agreed the cowboy. "Well, good-bye and good luck."
Biding up to the house, to tell their mother they were going for a ride, but would keep within sight or calling distance, Ted and Jan were soon guiding their ponies across the prairie.
The children had soon learned to sit well in the saddles, and knew how to guide their ponies. And the little animals were very safe.
"Somehow or other, I don't feel at all worried here when the children are out of my sight—I mean Teddy and Janet," said Mrs. Martin to her husband, when the Curlytops had ridden away.
"Yes, Uncle Frank's ranch does seem a safe place for them," Mr. Martin answered. "Lots of 'down East' people think the West is a dangerous place. Well, maybe it is in spots, but it is very nice here."
On over the prairies rode Teddy and Janet. Now and then the little girl would stop her pony and look back.
"What are you looking for?" Teddy asked. "Do you think Trouble is following us?"
"No, but we mustn't go too far from the house. We must stay in sight of it, mother said."
"Well, we will," promised Ted.
But, after a while, perhaps it was because it was so nice to ride along on the ponies' backs, or because the little animals went faster than Ted or Janet imagined—I don't know just how it did happen, but, all at once, Jan looked back and gave a cry.
"Why, what's the matter, Jan?" asked Teddy.
"We—we're lost!" gasped the little girl. "I can't see Uncle Frank's house anywhere!"
It was true enough. None of the ranch buildings were in sight, and for a moment Ted, too, was frightened. Then as his pony moved on, a little ahead of Jan's, the boy gave a cry of delight.
"There it is! I can see the house!" he said. "We're not lost. We were just down in a hollow I guess."
And so it was. The prairies, though they look level, are made up of little hills and valleys, or hollows. Down in between two hills one might be very near a house and yet not see it.
"Now we're all right," went on Teddy.
"Yes," agreed Janet "We're not lost anymore."
So they rode on a little farther, the ponies now and then stopping to crop a bit of the sweet grass, when, all of a sudden, Teddy, who was still a little ahead of his sister, called:
"Look there, Jan!"
"Where?"
Teddy pointed. His sister saw several men on horseback—at least that is what they looked like—coming toward them. Something about the figures seemed a bit strange to the children. Ted and Jan looked at one another and then back toward the ranch houses, which, they made sure, were not out of sight this time.
"Are they cowboys?" asked Jan of her brother.
"They—they don't just look like 'em," he said. "I mean like Uncle Frank's cowboys."
"That's what I thought," Janet added. "They look like they had blankets on—some of 'em."
She and Teddy sat on their ponies' backs and kept looking at the other figures. They were coming nearer, that was sure, and as they came closer it was more and more certain to the Curlytops that some of the strangers on the horses were wrapped in blankets.
"Oh, I know what they are!" suddenly cried Janet.
"What?"
"In—Indians!" faltered Janet. "Oh, Teddy, if they should be wild Indians!"
"Pooh!" exclaimed Teddy, trying to speak bravely. "Uncle Frank said there weren't any very wild Indians near his ranch."
"Maybe these ones wasn't near the ranch before, but they're coming near now," said Janet, so excited the words tumbled out all mixed-up like. "I'm going home!"
"I—I guess I'll go with you," added Teddy, as he turned his pony's head about. "We'd better tell Uncle Frank the Indians are coming. Maybe they want more of his horses."
"Oh, he won't let 'em have any!" cried Janet. "But they are Indians sure enough!" she went on, as she took a look over her shoulder.
And there was no doubt about it. As the group of riders came closer to the children, whose ponies did not go as fast as the larger horses, it was seen that they were indeed Indians, many of them wrapped in blankets. There were men, women, boys and girls, and some of the smaller children were carried wrapped tightly to their mothers' backs.
Tip to the ranch rode Teddy and Jan as fast as their ponies would take them without tossing off the Curlytops.
"Oh, Uncle Frank!" cried Teddy. "They 're coming!"
"A lot of 'em!" shouted Janet.
"What's that?" asked the ranchman. "Who are coming?"
"Indians to take more of your ponies!" Teddy gasped.
For a time there was some little excitement on the ranch, until one of the cowboys, riding out to see the Indians, came back and said they were not "wild" ones, but a band that went about selling baskets and other things they made. They did no harm, and for a time camped near the ranch, the children, even Trouble, going over to see them. But for some time the Curlytops did not forget the fright their first view of the Indians gave them.
In the days that followed Teddy and Janet had many rides on Clipclap and Star Face, their two nice ponies. Sometimes they were allowed to go a little way over the prairies by themselves. But when they went for a long ride Uncle Frank, Jim Mason, their father or some of the cowboys were with them.
"After a while maybe I'll learn how to ride so I can go off with you and help get the Indians that stole your horses. Do you think I can, Uncle Frank?" asked Teddy one day.
"Well, maybe, Curlytop. We surely must find those Indians, for I don't like to lose all those horses. As soon as I get some of my work done I'll have another look for them."
And then, a few days later, more bad news came to Uncle Frank. With his cowboys he was getting some cattle ready to ship away to a distant city, from where they were to be sent still farther away in a train of cattle cars, when a cowboy, who seemed much excited, came riding up to the corral.
He looked very tired and warm, for the weather was hot, and his horse was covered with flecks of foam, as though it had been ridden hard and far.
"What's the matter, Henry?" asked Uncle Frank.
"Indian thieves!" was the answer. "A band of the Indians have run away with a lot of your best cattle!"
"They have?" cried Uncle Frank. "How do you know?"
"I saw 'em, and I chased 'em. But they got away from me. Maybe if we start right out now we can catch 'em and get back the cattle."
"Then we'll go!" cried Uncle Frank.
Teddy and Janet were very much excited when they saw the cowboys saddling their mustangs ready for the chase.
CHAPTER XIV
LOOKING FOR INDIANS
"Can't we come along?" asked Teddy, as he saw Uncle Frank lead his horse out of the corral.
"And I want to come, too!" added Janet.
"Oh, no! We couldn't think of letting you!" answered Uncle Frank. "Come on, boys! Get ready. We'll have to ride fast!''
"We can ride fast!" added Teddy. "You said, the other day, Uncle Frank, I could ride real good!"
"So you can, Curlytop."
"Then why can't we come? Jan—she's a good rider, too!"
"Why the idea of you children thinking you can go off on a hunt for Indians!" exclaimed their mother.
"We want to go—awful much!" Teddy murmured.
"Not this time, Curly boy," said the ranchman. "We may have to be out all night, and it looks like rain. You stay at home with Janet, and I'll tell you all about it when I come back."
"Will you, truly?"
"Truly I will."
"And if you get any Indians will you bring 'em here?" Teddy demanded.
"No, don't!" cried Janet quickly. "I don't want to see any Indians."
"But they're tame ones," said her brother.
"They can't be awful tame, else they wouldn't run away with Uncle Frank's cows," declared the little girl.
"That's right!" laughed Uncle Frank. "I guess we won't bring any Indians here, Curlytop, even if we catch 'em, which we may not do as they have a good start of us. Anyhow we'll have to turn the Redmen back to their reservation where they belong if we get any of them. We'll just take my cattle and horses away, if we can, and tell the Indians to go home and be good."
"Will they do it?" asked Daddy Martin.
"It's hard to say," answered Uncle Frank. "I'd like to make 'em stop taking my animals, though. Well, I guess we'll start. We'll be back as soon as we can."
So he rode off with his cowboys after the Indians. The cowboy who had ridden in with the news went back with the others to show them where he had last seen the cattle thieves.
He stopped at the ranch house long enough, though, to get something to eat, and then rode away again. But he found time to talk a while to the Curlytops.
"Where did you see the Indians?" Teddy asked while the cowboy was eating and Uncle Frank and the others getting ready for the chase.
"Oh, I was giving my pony a drink at the spring in the rocks when I saw the Indians across the prairie—field, I guess you'd call it back East."
"Well, the prairies are big fields," observed Janet.
"So they are, Curly girl," laughed the cowboy. "Well, it was while I was watering my horse that I saw the Indians."
"You mean at the spring in the rocks where Jan and I found Clipclap in the cave?" Teddy asked.
"That's the place, Curlytop. I chased after them to see which way they were driving off your Uncle Frank's cattle, but I saw they were too many for me, so I came on back as fast as my horse would bring me."
"Was there a lot of Indians?" Teddy inquired.
"Quite a few," answered the cowboy. "Well, now I've got to go and help chase them," and he hurried through his meal and rode off with Uncle Frank and the others.
"Say, I wish we could go, don't you, Janet?" asked Teddy of his sister, when they were left by themselves near the corral.
"No, I don't! I don't want to chase Indians!"
"Well, I'd chase 'em and you could watch me."
"You're not big enough," said the little girl. "Indians are awful big. Don't you remember the one we saw at the station?"
"Yes. But maybe the ones that took Uncle Frank's ponies are little Indians."
"I don't care," Janet said. "I don't want to chase after any of 'em. I don't like 'em."
"All right—then I won't go," decided Teddy. "But let's go and take a ride on our ponies."
"Yes, I'll do that," agreed Janet, and soon, having had one of the cowboys who had been left behind at Ring Rosy Ranch saddle Clipclap and Star Face, the Curlytops started for their ride.
"Don't go too far!" called Mrs. Martin after the children.
"No, we won't," they promised.
"I wants to go wide too!" begged Trouble. "I 'ikes a wide on a ponyback."
"Not now, my dear," his mother said. "We'll go in the shade and pick flowers," and she carried him away where he would not see Teddy and Janet go off, for that made Trouble fretful. He wanted to be with them.
Over the prairie rode Janet and Ted. Their ponies went slowly, for the children had been told not to ride fast when they were alone. But, after a while, Ted got tired of this slow motion.
"Let's have a race, Jan!" he called. "I can beat you from here to that hill," and he pointed to one not far away.
"Mother said we couldn't ride fast," objected the little girl.
"Well, we won't ride very fast," agreed Ted. "Come on, just a little run."
Janet, too, wanted to go a bit faster, and so, when her pony was in a line with Ted's, she called sharply:
"Gid-dap, Star Face!"
"Gid-dap, Clipclap!" cried Teddy.
The two ponies started to run.
"Oh, I'm going to beat! I'm going to beat!" Janet cried, for she saw that Star Face was getting ahead of Clipclap.
"No you're not!" shouted Teddy, and he touched his heel to the pony's flank. Clipclap gave a jump forward, and then something happened.
Teddy took a flying leap, and right over Clipclap's head he sailed, coming down on his hands and knees some distance off. Clipclap fell down and rolled over in the grass while Janet kept on toward the hill that marked the end of the race.
The little girl reached this place first, not being able to stop her pony when she saw what had happened to Teddy. But as soon as she could turn around she rode back to him and asked anxiously:
"Are you hurt, Ted?"
"No—no. I—I guess not," he answered slowly.
"Is Clipclap?" asked Janet.
The pony answered for himself by getting up, giving himself a shake and then beginning to eat some grass.
"What happened?" Janet questioned further. "Why didn't you come on and race with me? I won!"
"Yes, I guess you did," admitted Teddy, getting up and brushing the dust off his clothes. "But I'd 'a' beaten you, only my pony stumbled and he threw me over his head. I went right over his head; didn't I Janet?"
"Yes, you did, Teddy. And you looked awful funny! But I'm glad you're not hurt."
"So'm I."
"What made Clipclap stumble?" asked the little girl.
"I guess he stepped in a gopher's hole," answered her brother.
"Let's look," proposed Janet.
Brother and sister went to the place where Clipclap had stumbled. There they saw a little hole in the ground. It was the front, or maybe the back, door of the home of a little animal called a gopher, which burrows under the earth. A gopher is a sort of squirrel-like rat, and on the prairies they make many holes which are dangerous if a horse suddenly steps into them. Prairie dogs are another species of animal that burrow on the Western plains, making holes into which horses or ponies often step, breaking their legs and throwing their riders.
This time nothing had happened except that Teddy and the pony had been shaken up. The pony might have broken a leg but did not, nor was Teddy even scratched.
Cowboys always dread gopher and prairie dog holes, especially at night when they can not be so easily seen.
"Oh, I know what let's do!" exclaimed Janet, when she found that her brother was all right.
"What?" asked Teddy.
"Let's wait here until the gopher comes up!"
"All right. Then we'll catch him and take him home to Trouble."
CHAPTER XV
TROUBLE "HELPS"
Janet and Teddy sat beside the gopher hole, while their ponies, not far from them, ate the sweet grass of the prairie. Clipclap and Star Face did not wander away, even if they were not tied to a hitching post. For Western horses and cow ponies are trained to stand where their master leaves them, if he will but toss the reins over their heads and let them rest on the ground.
When a pony sees that this has been done he will never run away, unless perhaps something frightens him very much. It may be that he thinks, when the reins are over his head and down on the ground, they are tied to something, so he could not run away if he wanted to.
At any rate, Clipclap and Star Face stayed where Ted and Janet left them, and the little Curlytops watched the gopher hole.
"I wonder when he'll come out," said Janet after a bit.
"Shs-s-s-s!" whispered Teddy. "Don't talk!"
"Why not?" asked his sister.
"'Cause you might scare him. You mustn't talk any more than if you were fishing."
"A gopher isn't a fish!"
"I know it," said Teddy. "But you've got to keep quiet."
So he and Janet remained very quiet, watching the hole. Suddenly Janet gave Teddy a slight tap with her hand. He had looked off to see if the ponies were all right.
"What's the matter?" asked Teddy.
"Hush!" whispered Janet. "There he is."
She pointed to the gopher's hole. Teddy saw a tiny black nose and a pair of sparkling eyes as a head was thrust a little way out of the burrow.
"I'll get him!" cried the little boy.
With outstretched hand he made a grab toward the hole. But his fingers only grasped a lot of dirt and stones. The gopher had dived down back into his hole as soon as he saw Teddy's first move.
"Oh, he got away!" said Janet sorrowfully.
"Ill get him next time," declared Teddy.
But he did not. Three or four times more the little animal put his small head and bright eyes out of the top of the hole, and each time Teddy made a grab for him; but the gopher was too quick. Finally Janet said:
"I guess we better go home, Teddy."
"Why?"
"Oh, it's getting late, and I'm getting hungry."
"So'm I. I'll wait until he comes up once more and then well go."
Once more the gopher peeped up, as if wondering why in the world those two strange children did not go away and let him alone. Ted made a grab for him, but missed and then the little boy said:
"Come on, Jan. Now we'll go home!"
"And we haven't any nice little gopher to take to Trouble," said Janet sadly.
"Oh, well, maybe it would bite him if we did catch one," reflected her brother. "I'll take him some of these pretty stones," and he picked up some from the ground. "He'll like to play with these."
Teddy whistled for his pony and Clipclap came slowly up to his little master. Janet held out a bunch of grass to Star Face and her pony, just as he had been taught, came up to her. Teddy helped his sister get up in the saddle. It was not hard for them, as the ponies were small, and Jim Mason had showed them how to put one foot in the stirrup, and then, with one hand on the saddle and the other grasping both the bridle and the pony's mane, give a jump that carried them up. But though Janet could mount her pony alone Teddy always helped her when he was with her by holding the stirrup.
"Let's have another race home," suggested Teddy, when they had started.
"No," answered his sister. "You might fall some more and get hurt. We'll ride slow."
So they did, though Teddy was anxious for a good, fast gallop.
"Well, did you have a nice time?" asked Mother Martin, as they came to the house after putting away their ponies.
"We had lots of fun," answered Janet "Teddy fell off his pony—"
"Fell off his pony!" cried her mother.
"He threw me!" explained Ted, and then he told what had happened.
"An' didn't you catch noffin for me?" asked Trouble, who heard his brother telling the story of his adventure.
"I brought you these nice stones," and Teddy took them out of his pocket. "You can play with them, Trouble."
Baby William laughed and sat down to play with the stones.
"Did the cowboys come back with the Indians?" asked Teddy of Aunt Millie when she was giving him and Janet some bread and jam to eat.
"No, not yet, Curlytop. I expect Uncle Frank and the boys will be gone all night."
"Will they have a house to sleep in?" asked Janet.
"No, unless they happen to be near one when it gets dark. But they took their blankets with them, and it's so warm that they'll just wrap up in them and sleep out on the prairie," said Aunt Millie.
"Won't they be hungry?" Teddy inquired, as he took a big bite of the bread and jam.
"Oh, no! Don't you remember I told you they always take something to eat with them when they go out this way? They are used to camping on the prairies, and they know how to make a fire, broil the bacon and make their coffee," answered Aunt Millie. "You need never worry about Uncle Frank and his cowboys. They'll be all right."
And so they were. It was not until the next afternoon that the party which had gone out to chase the Indians came back. They were tired, because they had ridden a good many miles, but they said they had slept well and had had enough to eat.
"Did you catch the Indians?" asked Teddy eagerly.
"No, Curlytop," answered Uncle Frank. "I'm sorry to say we did not. They got away from us."
"Did you see them?" asked Daddy Martin.
"Yes, but they were a long way off. Too far for us to get at them."
"And did they have your cattle with them?"
"Yes, they had a lot of my best animals. I guess they must be hiding away somewhere among the hills and mountains. We came pretty close to them at one time, and they suddenly disappeared. It seems as if they must have gone into a big hole or cave. We couldn't find them."
"Are you going to look any more?" Teddy questioned. "And if you do go, Uncle Frank, please can't I go too?"
"Well, most likely we will have another hunt for the Indians," answered the ranchman, "but I'm afraid we couldn't take you along, Curlytop."
"Why not, Uncle Frank?"
"Oh, you might get hurt."
"Well, can I see the Indians after you catch 'em?"
"Oh, yes, I guess I can promise you that," and Uncle Frank smiled at Daddy Martin.
"And can I ask them to make me a bow and arrows?" went on Teddy.
"Yes, you can ask them, but I don't believe they will," Uncle Frank replied. "These Indians aren't very nice. They're quite bad, in fact, and we all wish they'd stay where they belong and not come off their reservation and steal our cattle and horses."
"Well, I'm going to ask one to make me a bow and some arrows when you catch 'em," decided Teddy.
That afternoon Teddy saw his sister trying to do something with bits of string and sticks in a shady spot on the porch.
"What are you making, Jan," he asked. "A cat's cradle?"
"Pooh! you don't make a cat's cradle with sticks," said the little girl.
"Well, I thought maybe it was a new kind, or maybe a kitten's cradle," laughed Teddy.
"Nope; it isn't that either," went on Janet, as she kept on twisting the strings around the sticks.
"Well, what are you making?"
"A bow and arrow."
"Ho! Ho!" laughed Jan's brother "You can't make a bow and arrow that way. Anyhow you don't need a string for an arrow."
"I know that!" Jan said. "But I'm making the bow first, and then I'm going to make the arrow. The arrow part is what you shoot, isn't it, Ted?"
"Yes," he answered. "I'll help you, Jan. I didn't mean to laugh at you," he went on, for he saw that Janet was very much in earnest about what she was doing. "I know how to make a bow and arrows."
"Oh, please show me!" begged Janet. "I want to know how to shoot like the Indians."
Teddy, however, did not have much better luck making the bow than his sister had had. The trouble was that the sticks Janet had picked up were not the right kind. They would not bend, and to make a bow that shoots arrows a piece of wood that springs, or bends, is needed. For it is the springy action of the wood that shoots the arrow on its way.
After trying two or three times, each time finding something wrong, Teddy said:
"Oh, I don't guess I can make a bow, either. Let's play something else."
"What'll we play?" asked Janet.
Teddy thought for a few moments. Playing out at Uncle Frank's ranch was different from playing at home. In some ways it was not so easy, for at home if the Curly-tops could not think up any way to have fun by themselves, they could run down the street and find some other boys and girls. But here there were no streets, and no other boys or girls unless Teddy and Janet went a long way to look for them, and they could not do that.
"I know what we can do," said Teddy, after a while. "We can get some blankets and cookies and play cowboy."
"How can you play cowboy with cookies and blankets?"
"I'll show you," Teddy answered, as he went into the house to get the things he wanted. He soon came out with some old quilts and the cookies, which were in a paper bag.