LOST
Clipclap and Star Face, the two sturdy little ponies, trotted
bravely along, carrying Teddy and Janet on their backs. The ponies
did not wonder where they were going--they hardly ever did that. They
were satisfied to go wherever their master or mistress guided them,
for they knew the children would be good to them.
"Do you s'pose we'll find any Indians?" asked Janet after a while.
"Maybe," answered Teddy. "Are you scared?"
"No," replied his sister slowly. "I was just thinking maybe we could
find 'em, and get back Uncle Frank's horses, even if the cowboys
didn't."
"Maybe we could!" cried Teddy. "That would be _great_! Wouldn't
daddy be surprised!"
"And Uncle Frank, too!" added Janet
"Yes, and the cowboys! Then they'd think we could ride all right!"
went on Ted.
"Come on, let's hurry! Gid-dap!" he called to Clipclap.
"Where are we going first?" asked Janet.
"To the rocks, where we found my pony in the cave," answered her
brother, as he patted the little animal on the neck. "The cowboy said
he saw the Indians near there."
"Maybe they're hiding in the cave," suggested Janet.
"No, they wouldn't do that," Teddy decided, after thinking it over
awhile.
"They'd be afraid to stay so near Uncle Frank's ranch. Anyhow the
cave isn't big enough."
"It was big enough for Clipclap."
"Yes, but he's a little pony. Anyhow, we'll look in the cave and
then we'll ride on along the trail until we catch up to daddy and
Uncle Frank."
"What'll they say?"
"I guess they'll be s'prised."
"Maybe they'll make us go back."
"Well, if they do we'll have some fun, anyhow," said Teddy,
laughing. "Gid-dap, Clipclap."
"It's a good thing we've two ponies instead of one goat," remarked
Janet, after they had ridden on a little farther.
"Course it is," agreed Ted. "We couldn't both ride Nicknack, though
he could pull us both in the wagon."
"Maybe he'd be afraid of Indians," suggested Janet.
"No, I don't guess he would," answered Teddy, after some reflection.
"Nicknack's a brave goat. I like him. But I like Clipclap, too."
"And I like Star Face," added Janet "He's an awful nice pony."
On and on the ponies trotted, carrying the Curlytops farther and
farther from the Ring Rosy Ranch house. But the children were not
afraid. The sun was shining brightly, and they had often before
ridden this far alone. They could look back at the ranch buildings
when they got on top of the little hills with which the prairie was
dotted, and they were not lonesome.
Off on either side they could see groups of horses or cattle that
belonged to Uncle Frank, and Ted and Janet thought there must be
cowboys with the herds.
"I'm going to get a drink when we get to the rocks," said Janet, as
they came within sight of the pile of big stones.
"Yes. And we'll give the ponies some, too," agreed her brother. "I
guess they're thirsty."
Indeed the little animals were thirsty, and after they had rested a
while--for Uncle Frank had told the children it was not wise to let a
horse or pony drink when it was too warm--Clipclap and Star Face had
some of the cool water that bubbled up among the rocks.
"It tastes awful good!" exclaimed Janet, as she took some from the
cup Ted filled for her.
After Clipclap had been found at the spring, the time he was hidden
in the cave, one of the cowboys had brought a tin cup to the spring,
leaving it there, so if anyone passed the spring it would be easy to
get a drink without having to use a hat or kneel down on the ground.
For horses and cattle there was a little rocky basin into which the
cool water flowed.
"I wish we could take some of the water with us," said Teddy, when,
after a rest, they were ready to follow the trail again.
"If we had a bottle, like some of the cowboys carry, we could,"
remarked Janet. "Maybe we'll get awful thirsty if we ride on a long
way, Ted."
"Maybe we will, but maybe we can find another spring. I heard Uncle
Frank say there's more than one on the ranch. Come on!"
The children took another drink, and offered some to the ponies,
each of which took a little. Then, once more, the Curlytops were on
the trail after the Indians, as they believed.
"Which way do we go now?" asked Janet, as she watched Teddy get up
in his saddle after he had helped her mount Star Face.
"We've got to follow the trail," Teddy answered.
"How do we do it?" his sister inquired.
"Well. I asked Baldy and he said just look on the ground for tracks
in the dirt. You know the kind of marks a horse's foot makes, don't
you, Jan?"
"Yes, and I see some down here," and she pointed to the ground.
"That's them!" exclaimed Teddy. "We've got to follow the marks!
That's the trail!"
"Is this the Indians' trail?" asked the little girl, and she looked
over her shoulder, perhaps to make sure no one was following her and
her brother.
"I don't know if it's the Indians' trail, or, maybe, the marks left
by Uncle Frank and daddy," said Teddy. "Anyhow we've got to follow
the trail. That's what Baldy said."
"He doesn't know we came off alone, does he?" asked Janet
"No. I guess he wouldn't have let us if he did. But we won't have to
go very far, and then we'll catch up to the rest. Then they'll have
to take us with 'em."
"Yes," said Janet, and she rode along beside her brother.
Neither of the Curlytops stopped to think that their father, Uncle
Frank and the cowboys had started off early that morning, and must
have ridden on many miles ahead. The cowboys' horses, too, could go
faster than the ponies Star Pace and Clipclap, for the larger horses
had longer legs.
All Teddy and Janet thought of was hurrying along as fast as they
could go, in order to catch up to the Indian hunters. What would
happen after that they did not know.
All at once, as the Curlytops were riding along, they heard what
they thought was a whistle.
"Some one is calling us," said Janet, turning to look back. "Did you
hear that, Ted?"
"Yes, I heard a whistle. Maybe it's Uncle Frank, or some of the
cowboys."
The children looked across the prairie but could see no one. They
were about to go on again when the whistle sounded once more.
"That is some one calling us," declared Jan. "Let's see if we can't
find who it is, Teddy."
So the children looked around again, but no one was in sight, and,
what was still stranger, the whistling sound kept up.
"It's some one playing a joke on us, and hiding after they whistle,"
said Janet. "Maybe one of the cowboys from the ranch."
"Maybe an Indian," said Ted, and then he was sorry he had said that,
for his sister looked frightened.
"Oh!" said Janet, "if it's an Indian--"
"I don't guess it is," Teddy hastened to say. "I guess Indians don't
whistle, anyhow."
This made Janet feel better and once more she and her brother looked
around to see what made the queer whistling sound, that still kept
up. It was just like a boy calling to another, and Teddy was quite
puzzled over it until he suddenly saw what was doing it.
Perched on a small mound of earth near a hole in the ground, was a
little animal, about as big as a large rat, though, as Janet said, he
was "nicer looking." And as Ted and his sister looked, they saw this
little animal move, and then they knew he it was that was whistling.
"Oh, what is it?" cried Janet.
"I know," Teddy answered. "That's a prairie dog. Baldy told me about
them, and how they whistled when they saw any danger."
"Is there any danger here?" asked Janet, looking around.
"I guess the prairie dog thinks we're the danger," said Teddy. "But
we wouldn't hurt him."
"Does he live down in that hole?" asked Janet.
"Yes, just like a gopher," answered her brother, who had listened to
the cowboys telling about the little prairie dogs. "And sometimes
there are snakes or an owl in the same hole with the prairie dog."
"Then I'm not going any nearer," decided Janet. "I don't mind an
owl, but I don't like snakes! Come on, Ted, let's hurry."
As they started off, the prairie dog, which really did make a
whistling sound, suddenly darted down inside his burrow or hole.
Perhaps he thought Teddy and Janet were coming to carry him off, but
they were not. The children saw many more of the little animals as
they rode over the prairies.
"But we must look for marks--tracks, Baldy calls them," said Teddy.
"Tracks will tell us which way the Indians went," and so the children
kept their eyes turned toward the sod as they rode along.
For a while they could see many marks in the soft ground--the marks
of horses' feet, some shod with iron shoes and others bare, for on
the prairie grass there is not the same need of iron shoes on the
hoofs of horses as in the city, with its hard, paved streets. Then
the marks were not so plain; and pretty soon, about a mile from the
spring amid the rocks where the ground was quite hard, Teddy and
Janet could see no marks at all.
"Which way do we go?" asked Ted's sister, as he called to his pony
to stop. "Do you know the way?"
"No, I don't guess I do," he answered. "But anyhow we can ride along
and maybe well see 'em."
"Yes, we can do that," Janet said.
It was still early in the afternoon, and the sun was shining
brightly. They knew they were still on Uncle Frank's ranch, and,
though they could not see the buildings any more, they could see the
place where they had had a drink at the spring.
"All we've got to do, if we want to come back," observed Teddy, "is
ride to the rocks and then we know the way home from there."
"Yes, that's easy," Janet said.
So they rode on and on.
Of course the Curlytops ought not to have done what they did, but
they did not think, any more than Trouble thought when he opened the
corral gate and let out the ponies.
But the sun did not stay high in the sky all the afternoon.
Presently the bright ball of fire began to go down in the west, and
the shadows of Teddy and Janet grew long on the prairie. They knew
what those long shadows meant--that it was getting late afternoon.
After a while Janet turned in her saddle and looked back.
"Oh, Teddy!" she cried. "I can't see the spring rocks," for that is
what the children had called the place where they had found Clipclap.
"They're back there just the same."
"I know. But if we can't see 'em we won't know how to ride back to
them," went on Janet. "How are we going to find our way back home,
Ted?"
"Oh, I can get to the rocks when I want to," he said. "Come on,
we'll ride a little bit farther and then, if we can't find daddy and
Uncle Frank, we'll go back."
"Well, don't go much farther," said Janet, and Teddy said he would
not.
There were many hills and hollows now, much higher and deeper ones
than those near the ranch buildings. Even from the top of one of the
high hills up which the ponies slowly climbed, the Curlytops could
not see the spring rocks.
"Oh, Ted!" exclaimed Jan, "I'm afraid! I want to go back! It's going
to be night pretty soon!"
"It won't be night for a good while," he said, "but I guess maybe
we'd better go back. I can't see daddy, Uncle Frank or the cowboys."
He raised himself in the stirrups and looked across the prairies,
shading his eyes with his hand the way he had seen some of the
cowboys do. Nothing was in sight.
"Come on, Jan, we'll go back," he said.
Clipclap and Star Face were turned around. Once more off trotted the
little ponies with the Curlytops on their backs.
The shadows grew longer. It was not so bright and nice on the
prairies now. Janet kept close to Teddy. At last she asked:
"Do you see the rocks?"
"Not yet," her brother answered. "But we'll soon be there."
They did not reach them, however. On and on they rode. The sun went
down behind a bank of clouds.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Janet, "I don't like this," and her voice sounded
as if she were going to cry.
"We'll soon be back at the rocks, and then I know the way home,"
said Teddy, as bravely as he could.
But they did not reach the rocks. Up the hollows and across the
hills they rode, over the broad prairies, but no rocks did they see.
At last the ponies began to go more slowly, for they were tired. It
grew darker. Ted looked anxiously about. Janet spoke softly to him.
"Teddy," she asked, "are we--are we--lost?"
For a moment Teddy did not answer. Then he replied slowly:
"Yes--I guess we are lost, Janet!"