COWBOY FUN
Into the big wagon piled the Curlytops, Mrs. Martin and Trouble, while
Daddy Martin and Uncle Frank went to see about the baggage.
Jan and Ted looked curiously about them. It was the first time they had
had a chance to look quietly since they had started on the journey, for
they had been traveling in the train nearly a week, it seemed.
What they saw was a small railroad station, set in the midst of big
rolling fields. There was a water tank near the station, and not far
from the tank was a small building in which a pump could be heard
chug-chugging away.
"But where is the ranch?" asked Janet of her brother. "I don't see any
cows and horses."
"Dere's horses," stated Trouble, pointing to the two sturdy ponies
hitched to the wagon.
"Yes, I know," admitted Janet. "But Uncle Frank said he had more'n a
hundred horses and----"
"And a thousand steers--that's cattle," interrupted Ted. "I don't see
any, either. Maybe we got off at the wrong station, Mother."
"No, you're all right," laughed Mrs. Martin. "Didn't Uncle Frank meet us
and didn't Daddy tell us we'd have to drive to the ranch!"
"What's the matter now, Curlytops?" asked their father's uncle, as the
two men came back from having seen about the baggage, which had arrived
safely. "What are you two youngsters worrying about, Teddy and Janet?"
"They're afraid we're at the wrong place because they can't see the
ranch," answered their mother.
"Oh, that's over among the hills," said Uncle Frank, waving his hand
toward some low hills that were at the foot of some high mountains. "It
wouldn't do," he went on, "to have a ranch too near a railroad station.
The trains might scare the horses and cattle. You will soon be there,
Curlytops. We'll begin to travel in a minute."
Ted and Janet settled themselves in the seat, where they were side by
side, and looked about them. Suddenly Janet clasped her brother by the
arm and exclaimed:
"Look, Ted! Look!"
"Where?" he asked.
"Right over there--by the station. It's an _Indian_!"
"A real one?" asked Teddy, who, at first, did not see where his sister
was pointing.
"He _looks_ like a real one," Janet answered. "He's _alive_, 'cause he's
moving!"
She snuggled closer to her brother. Then Teddy saw where Janet pointed.
A big man, whose face was the color of a copper cent, was walking along
the station platform. He was wrapped in a dirty blanket, but enough of
him could be seen to show that he was a Redman.
"Is that a _real_ Indian, Uncle Frank?" asked Teddy in great excitement.
"What? Him? Oh, yes, he's a real Indian all right. There's a lot of 'em
come down to the station to sell baskets and bead-work to the people who
go through on the trains."
"Is he a _tame_ Indian?" the little boy next wanted to know.
"Oh, he's 'tame' all right. Hi there, Running Horse!" called Uncle Frank
to the copper-faced man in the blanket, "sell many baskets to-day?"
"Um few. No good business," answered the Indian in a sort of grunt.
"Oh, do you know him?" asked Ted in surprise.
"Oh, yes. Running Horse often comes to the ranch when he's hungry.
There's a reservation of the Indians not far from our place. They won't
hurt you, Jan; don't be afraid," said Uncle Frank, as he saw that the
little girl kept close to Teddy.
"Was he wild once?" she asked timidly.
"Why, yes; I guess you might have called him a wild Indian once," her
uncle admitted. "He's pretty old and I shouldn't wonder but what he had
been on the warpath against the white settlers."
"Oh!" exclaimed Janet. "Maybe he'll get wild again!"
"Oh, no he won't!" laughed Uncle Frank. "He's only too glad now to live
on the reservation and sell the baskets the squaws make. The Indian men
don't like to work."
Running Horse, which was the queer name the Indian had chosen for
himself, or which had been given him, walked along, wrapped in his
blanket, though the day was a warm one. Perhaps he thought the blanket
kept the heat out in summer and the cold in winter.
"Get along now, ponies!" cried Uncle Frank, and the little horses began
to trot along the road that wound over the prairies like a dusty ribbon
amid the green grass.
On the way to Ring Rosy Ranch Uncle Frank had many questions to ask,
some of the children and some of Mr. and Mrs. Martin. Together they
laughed about the things that had happened when they were all snowed in.
"Tell Uncle Frank of Trouble's trying to hide Nicknack away so we
wouldn't leave him behind," suggested Mrs. Martin.
"Ha! Ha! That was pretty good!" exclaimed the ranchman when Ted and
Janet, by turns, had told of Trouble's being found asleep in the
goat-wagon. "Well, it's too bad you couldn't bring Nicknack with you.
He'd like it out on the ranch, I'm sure, but it would be too long a
journey for him. You'll have rides enough--never fear!"
"Pony rides?" asked Teddy.
"Pony rides in plenty!" laughed Uncle Frank. "We'll soon be there now,
and you can see the ranch from the top of the next hill."
The prairies were what are called "rolling" land. That is there were
many little hills and hollows, and the country seemed to be like the
rolling waves of the ocean, if they had suddenly been made still.
Sometimes the wagon, drawn by the two little horses, would be down in a
hollow, and again it would be on top of a mound-like hill from which a
good view could be had.
Reaching the top of one hill, larger than the others, Uncle Frank
pointed off in the distance and said:
"There's Circle O Ranch, Curlytops, or, as Jan has named it, Ring Rosy
Ranch. We'll be there in a little while."
The children looked. They saw, off on the prairie, a number of low, red
buildings standing close together. Beyond the buildings were big fields,
in which were many small dots.
"What are the dots?" asked Janet.
"Those are my horses and cattle--steers we call the last," explained
Uncle Frank. "They are eating grass to get fat. You'll soon be closer to
them."
[Illustration: "LOOK, TED! LOOK!" "IT'S AN INDIAN."
_The Curlytops at Uncle Frank's Ranch_ _Page 65_]
"Are the Indians near here?" Teddy inquired.
"No, not very near. It's a day's ride to their reservation. But don't
worry about them. They won't bother you if you don't bother them," said
Uncle Frank.
Teddy was not fully satisfied with this answer, for he hoped very much
that the Indians would "bother him"--at least, he thought that was what
he wanted.
When the Curlytops drew closer to the ranch they could see that one of
the buildings was a house, almost like their own in the East, only not
so tall. It was all one story, as were the other buildings, some of
which were stables for the horses and some sleeping places, or "bunk
houses," for the cowboys, while from one building, as they approached
closer, there came the good smell of something cooking.
"That's the cook's place," said Uncle Frank, pointing with his whip.
"All the cowboys love him, even if he is a Chinaman."
"Have you a Chinese cook?" asked Mrs. Martin.
"Yes, and he's a good one," answered Uncle Frank. "Wait until you taste
how he fries chicken."
"I hope we taste some soon," said Daddy Martin. "This ride across the
prairies has made me hungry."
"I hungry, too!" exclaimed Trouble. "I wants bread an' milk!"
"And you shall have all you want!" laughed the ranchman. "We've plenty
of milk."
"Oh, this is a dandy place!" exclaimed Teddy, as the wagon drove up to
the ranch house. "We'll have lots of fun here, Janet!"
"Maybe we will, if--if the Indians don't get us," she said.
"Pooh! I'm not afraid of them," boasted Teddy, and then something
happened.
All at once there came a lot of wild yells, and sounds as if a
Fourth-of-July celebration of the old-fashioned sort were going on.
There was a popping and a banging, and then around the corner of the
house rode a lot of roughly-dressed men on ponies which kicked up a
cloud of dust.
"Ki-yi! Ki-yi! Yippi-i-yip!" yelled the men.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" exploded their revolvers.
"Oh, dear!" screamed Janet.
Teddy turned a little pale, but he did not make a sound.
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Martin, hugging Trouble and his sister closer
to her. "Oh, what is it?"
"Don't be afraid!" laughed Uncle Frank. "Those are the cowboys making
you welcome to Ring Rosy Ranch. That's their way of having fun!"