The Curlytops looked at the ranch foreman as he said this. Uncle Frank looked at him, too. The foreman stood twirling his big hat around in his hand. Teddy looked at the big revolver—"gun" the cowboys called it—which dangled from Jim Mason's belt.
"Bad news, is it?" asked Uncle Frank. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope none of the boys is sick. Nobody been shot, has there, during the celebration?"
"Oh, no, the boys are all right," answered the foreman. "But it's bad news about some of your ponies—a lot of them you had out on grass over there," and he pointed to the west—just where Ted and Janet could not see.
"Bad news about the ponies?" repeated Uncle Frank. "Well, now, I'm sorry to hear that. Some of 'em sick?"
"Not as I know of," replied Jim. "But a lot of 'em have been taken away—stolen, I guess I'd better call it."
"A lot of my ponies stolen?" cried Uncle Frank, jumping up from his chair. "That is bad news! When did it happen? Why don't you get the cowboys together and chase after the men who took the ponies?"
"Well, I would have done that if I knew where to go," said the foreman. "But I didn't hear until a little while ago, when one of the cowboys I sent to see if the ponies were all right came in. He got there to find 'em all gone, so I came right over to tell you."
"Well, we'll have to see about this!" exclaimed Uncle Frank. "Who's the cowboy you sent to see about the ponies?"
"Henry Jensen. He just got in a little while ago, after a hard ride."
"And who does he think took the horses?"
"He said it looked as if the Indians had done it!" and at these words from the foreman Ted and Janet looked at one another with widely opened eyes.
"Indians?" said Uncle Frank. "Why, I didn't think any of them had come off their reservation."
"Some of 'em must have," the foreman went on. "They didn't have any ponies of their own, I guess, so they took yours and rode off on 'em."
"Well, this is too bad!" said Uncle Frank in a low voice. "I guess we'll have to get our boys together and chase after these Indians," he went on. "Yes, that's what I'll do. I've got to get back my ponies."
"Oh, can't I come?" cried Teddy, not understanding all that was going on, but enough to know that his uncle was going somewhere with the cowboys, and Teddy wanted to go, too.
"Oh, I'm afraid you couldn't come—Curlytop," said the foreman, giving Teddy the name almost everyone called him at first sight, and this was the first time Jim Mason had seen Teddy.
"No, you little folks must stay at home," added Uncle Frank.
"Are you really going after Indians?" Teddy wanted to know.
"Yes, to find out if they took any of my ponies. You see," went on Uncle Frank, speaking to Daddy and Mother Martin as well as to the Curlytops, "the Indians are kept on what is called a 'reservation' That is, the government gives them certain land for their own and they are told they must stay there, though once in a while some of them come off to sell blankets and bark-work at the railroad stations.
"And, sometimes, maybe once a year, a lot of the Indians get tired of staying on the reservation and some of them will get together and run off. Sometimes they ride away on their own horses, and again they may take some from the nearest ranch. I guess this time they took some of mine."
"And how will you catch them?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"Oh, we'll try to find out which way they went and then we'll follow after them until we catch them and get back the ponies."
"It's just like hide-and-go-seek, isn't it, Uncle Frank?" asked Janet.
"Yes, something like that But it takes longer."
"I wish I could go to hunt the Indians!" murmured Teddy.
"Why, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" exclaimed his mother. "I'm surprised at you!"
"Well, I would like to go," he said.
"Could I go if I knew how to ride a pony, Uncle Frank?"
"Well, I don't know. I'm afraid you're too little. But, speaking of riding a pony, to-morrow I'll have one of the cowboys start in to teach you and Janet to ride. Now I guess I'll have to go see this Henry Jensen and ask him about the Indians and my stolen ponies."
"I hope he gets them back," said Teddy to his sister.
"So do I," she agreed. "And I hope those Indians don't come here."
"Pooh! they're tame Indians!" exclaimed Teddy.
"They must be kind of wild when they steal ponies," Janet said.
A little later the Curlytops and Trouble went to bed, for they had been up early that day. They fell asleep almost at once, even though their bed was not moving along in a railroad train, as it had been the last three or four nights.
"Did Uncle Frank find his ponies?" asked Teddy the next morning at the breakfast table.
"No, Curlytop," answered Aunt Millie. "He and some of the cowboys have gone over to the field where the ponies were kept to see if they can get any news of them."
"Can we learn to ride a pony to-day?" asked Janet.
"As soon as Uncle Frank comes back," answered her father. "You and Ted and Trouble play around the house now as much as you like. When Uncle Frank comes back he'll see about getting a pony for you to ride."
"Come on!" called Ted to his sister after breakfast. "We'll have some fun."
"I come, too!" called Trouble. "I wants a wide! I wish we had Nicknack."
"It would be fun if we had our goat here, wouldn't it?" asked Janet of her brother.
"Yes, but I'd rather have a pony. I'm going to be a cowboy, and you can't be a cowboy and ride a goat."
"No, I s'pose not," said Janet. "But a goat isn't so high up as a pony, Ted, and if you fall off a goat's back you don't hurt yourself so much."
"I'm not going to fall off," declared Teddy.
The children wandered about among the ranch buildings, looking in the bunk house where the cowboys slept. There was only one person in there, and he was an old man to be called a "boy," thought Janet. But all men, whether young or old, who look after the cattle on a ranch, are called "cowboys" so age does not matter.
"Howdy," said this cowboy with a cheerful smile, as the Curlytops looked in at him. He was mending a broken strap to his saddle. "Where'd you get that curly hair?" he asked. "I lost some just like that. Wonder if you got mine?"
Janet hardly knew what to make of this, but Teddy said:
"No, sir. This is our hair. It's fast to our heads and we've had it a long time."
"It was always curly this way," added Janet.
"Oh, was it? Well, then it can't be mine," said the cowboy with a laugh. "Mine was curly only when I was a baby, and that was a good many years ago. Are you going to live here?"
"We're going to stay all summer," Janet said. "Do you live here?"
"Well, yes; as much as anywhere."
"Could you show us where the Indians are that took Uncle Frank's ponies?" Teddy demanded.
"Wish I could!" exclaimed the cowboy. "If I knew, I'd go after 'em myself and get the ponies back. I guess those Indians are pretty far away from here by now."
"Do they hide?" asked Teddy.
"Yes, they may hide away among the hills and wait for a chance to sell the ponies they stole from your uncle. But don't worry your curly heads about Indians. Have a good time here. It seems good to see little children around a place like this."
"Have you got a lasso?" asked Teddy.
"You mean my rope? Course I got one—every cowboy has," was the answer.
"I wish you'd lasso something," went on Teddy, who had once been to see a Wild West show.
"All right, I'll do a little rope work for you," said the cowboy, with a good-natured smile. "Just wait until I mend my saddle."
In a little while he came riding into the yard in front of the bunk house on a lively little pony. He made the animal race up and down and, while doing this, the cowboy swung his coiled rope, or lasso, about his head, and sent it in curling rings toward posts and benches, hauling the latter after him by winding the rope around the horn of his saddle after he had lassoed them.
"Say! that's fine!" cried Teddy with glistening eyes. "I'm going to learn how to lasso."
"I'll show you after a while," the cowboy offered. "You can't learn too young. But I must go now."
"Could I just have a little ride on your pony's back?" asked Teddy.
"To be sure you could," cried the cowboy. "Here you go!"
He leaped from the saddle and lifted Teddy up to it, while Janet and Trouble looked on in wonder. Then holding Ted to his seat by putting an arm around him, while he walked beside the pony and guided it, the cowboy gave the little fellow a ride, much to Teddy's delight.
"Hurray!" he called to Janet "I'm learning to be a cowboy!"
"That's right—you are!" laughed Daddy Martin, coming out just then. "How do you like it?"
"Dandy!" Teddy said. "Come on. Janet!"
"Yes, we ought to have let the ladies go first," said the cowboy. "But I didn't know whether the leetle gal cared for horses," he went on to Mr. Martin.
"I like horses," admitted Janet. "But maybe I'll fall off."
"I won't let you," the cowboy answered, as he lifted her to the saddle. Then he led the pony around with her on his back, and Janet liked it very much.
"I wants a wide, too!" cried Trouble.
"Hi! that's so! Mustn't forget you!" laughed the cowboy, and he held Baby William in the saddle, much to the delight of that little fellow.
"Now you mustn't bother any more," said Daddy Martin. "You children have had fun enough. You'll have more pony-back rides later."
"Yes, I'll have to go now," the cowboy said, and, leaping into the saddle, he rode away in a cloud of dust.
The Curlytops and Trouble wandered around among the ranch buildings. Daddy Martin, seeing that the children were all right, left them to themselves.
"I'se hungry," said Trouble, after a bit.
"So'm I," added Teddy. "Do you s'pose that funny Chinaman would give us a cookie, Jan?"
"Chinamen don't know how to make cookies."
"Well, maybe they know how to make something just as good. Let's go around to the cook house—that's what Aunt Millie calls it."
The cook house was easy to find, for from it came a number of good smells, and, as they neared it, the Curlytops saw the laughing face of the Chinese cook peering out at them.
"Lil' gal hungly—li' boy hungly?" asked Hop Sing in his funny talk.
"Got any cookies?" inquired Teddy.
"No glot clooklies—glot him clake," the Chinese answered.
"What does he say?" asked Janet of her brother.
"I guess he means cake," whispered Teddy, and that was just what Hop Sing did mean. He brought out some nice cake on a plate and Trouble and the Curlytops had as much as was good for them, if not quite all they wanted.
"Glood clake?" asked Hop Sing, when nothing but the crumbs were left—and not many of them.
"I guess he means was it good cake," then whispered Janet to her little brother.
"Yes, it was fine and good!" exclaimed Teddy. "Thank you."
"You mluch welclome—clome some mo'!" laughed Hop Sing, as the children moved away.
They spent the morning playing about the ranch near the house. They made a sea-saw from a board and a barrel, and played some of the games they had learned on Cherry Farm or while camping with Grandpa Martin. Then dinner time came, but Uncle Frank and the cowboys did not come back to it.
"Won't they be hungry?" asked Teddy.
"Oh, they took some bacon, coffee and other things with them," said Aunt Millie. "They often have to camp out for days at a time."
"Say, I wish I could do that!" cried Teddy.
"Wait until you get to be a cowboy," advised his father.
That afternoon Trouble went to lie down with his mother to have a nap, and Teddy and Janet wandered off by themselves, promising not to go too far away from the house.
But the day was so pleasant, and it was so nice to walk over the soft grass that, before they knew it, Teddy and Janet had wandered farther than they meant to. As the land was rolling—here hills and there hollows—they were soon out of sight of the ranch buildings, but they were not afraid, as they knew by going to a high part of the prairie they could see their way back home—or they thought they could. There were no woods around them, though there were trees and a little stream of water farther off.
Suddenly, as the Curlytops were walking along together, they came to a place where there were a lot of rocks piled up in a sort of shelter. Indeed one place looked as though it might be a cave. And as Teddy and Janet were looking at this they heard a strange noise, which came from among the rocks.
Both children stopped and stood perfectly still for a moment.
"Did you hear that?" asked Jan, clasping her brother's arm.
"Yes—I did," he answered.
"Did—did it sound like some one groaning?" she went on.
Teddy nodded his head to show that it had sounded that way to him. Just then the noise came again.
"Oh!" exclaimed Janet, starting to run. "Maybe it's an Indian! Oh, Teddy, come on!"
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