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!
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg