AT THE BRIDGE
"Are you going to make a big hole so we both can get in at the same
time?" asked Laddie of Russ, as the older boy began to shovel out the
dirt.
"No, we'll take turns digging. If we made such a big hole it would take
too long. First I'll dig and throw out the dirt, and you can throw it
farther on, so it won't roll back in the hole. Then, when I get tired of
digging in the hole, you can get in and dig."
"That'll be lots of fun!" exclaimed Laddie. "Won't Uncle Fred be
s'prised when he sees a well full of water?"
"Maybe it won't be quite _full_," said Russ. "But we may get some."
The boys, of course, could not dig very fast. The shovels they had were
rather small, and did not hold much dirt. But they were fully large
enough for two such little boys.
The earth was somewhat sandy, and there were not many large stones on
Uncle Fred's ranch. Of course, the digging was not as easy as it had
been at the beach where Cousin Tom lived, but Russ and Laddie did not
mind this. They were digging for fun, as much as for anything else, and
they really did not have to do it.
So they dug away, first one and then the other getting down in the hole,
until they had made it so large that, even when Laddie stood up in it,
his head hardly came up to the top of the ground. Russ, being taller,
stuck a little more out of the hole than did his brother.
"Do you see any water yet?" asked Laddie, when Russ had been digging, in
his turn, for some little time.
"No, not yet," was the answer. "It's awful dry."
"We could get some water from the spring and pour it in," said Laddie.
"Then it would look like a well."
"But all the water would run out, if we just poured it in, same as it
ran out when we dug a hole at the beach and let the waves fill it,"
objected Russ. "We'll dig down until we come to some regular water. Then
it will be a real well."
But long before they reached water Laddie and Russ became tired of
digging. They got to a place where the earth was packed hard, and it was
not easy to shovel it out, and finally Russ said:
"Oh, I'm not going to make a well!"
"I'm not, either," declared Laddie. "What'll we do?"
"Let's go for a ride on our ponies," suggested Russ.
"All right!" agreed Laddie. "That'll be fun."
So, dropping the shovels at the side of the hole they had dug, instead
of taking them back to the barn, as they should have done, Russ and
Laddie went to the house to ask their father or mother if they might go
for a ride on the little ponies.
Mr. Bunker was out on the ranch with Uncle Fred, but Mother Bunker said
the two boys might ride over the plain if they did not go too far.
Russ and Laddie went to the corral to get their ponies. The boys got one
of the cowboys, who was working around the barn, to put the saddles on
for them, as this they could not do for themselves, and then they set
off, Russ on "Star," as he called his pony, for it had a white star on
its forehead, while Laddie rode "Stocking." His pony had been named that
because one leg, about half-way up from the hoof, was white, just as if
the little horse had on one white stocking.
"Gid-dap!" cried Russ to Star.
"Gid-dap!" called Laddie to Stocking.
And off and away, over the plain, the two ponies galloped.
"They sure are two nice little boys," said Bill Johnson to Mrs. Bunker,
as they watched Laddie and Russ ride away.
"Yes, they try to be good, though they do get into mischief now and
then," answered the little boys' mother.
On and on rode Laddie and Russ, their ponies trotting over the grassy
plain. The day was warm and sunny, and the two boys were having a grand
time.
"I wish I was an Indian," said Russ, with a sigh, as he let his pony
walk a way, for it seemed tired.
"I'd rather be a cowboy," said Laddie.
"But Indians can live in a tent," went on Russ. "And if they don't like
it in one place they can take their tent to another place. If you're a
cowboy and live in a house, like Uncle Fred's, you have to stay where
the house is."
"Yes," said Laddie, after thinking it over a bit. "You have to do that.
I guess maybe I'll be an Indian, too."
"Let's both make believe we're Indians now," proposed Russ.
"We'll pretend we're out hunting buffaloes," agreed Laddie.
"And if we see any of Uncle Fred's cattle we'll make believe they are
buffaloes and we'll lasso them," went on Russ.
"Yes, and we'll shoot 'em, too," declared Laddie.
"Only make believe, though!" exclaimed his brother. "I wouldn't want to
shoot a cow really."
"No, I wouldn't either. But do Indians have guns, Russ?"
"Course they do. Didn't you hear Bill Johnson tell about how he saw a
whole lot of Indians with guns?"
"Oh, yes. Then we'll be gun-Indians, and not the bow-and-arrow kind."
"Sure!" agreed Russ. "We'll get some sticks for guns."
They stopped on the edge of the woods to get sticks that would answer
for guns. Then, after resting in the shade for a while, they rode on.
"Woo! Wah! Hoo!" suddenly yelled Russ.
"What's the matter?" asked Laddie, looking around at his brother, who
was riding behind him. "What did you yell that way for?"
"'Cause I'm an Indian!" answered Russ. "You have to yell that way, too.
Indians always yell."
"Oh, all right. I'll yell," said Laddie. "I thought maybe you'd hurt
yourself. Oh, hoo! Doodle-doodle-oo!" he shouted.
"Hey, that's no way to yell like an Indian!" objected Russ.
"Why isn't it?"
"'Cause it sounds more like a rooster crowing. Yell like this: 'Wah-hoo!
Zoo! Zoop! Wah! Wah!'"
"Oh, you want me to yell that way. Well, I will," said Laddie. And he
yelled as nearly as he could like his brother.
So the two boys rode on and on, crossing the plain this way and that, so
as not to get too far from the house. They could see the ranch buildings
each time they got on top of the little knolls that were scattered here
and there over the plain.
"Let's have a race!" suggested Laddie, after a bit. "I don't guess we
are going to see any of Uncle Fred's cattle over here to make believe
they're buffaloes. Let's have a race!"
"All right!" agreed Russ. "And I don't have to give you any head start
this time, 'cause your pony's legs are going to run, and not your legs,
and your pony's legs are every bit as long as my pony's. So we can start
even."
"Yes," said Laddie, "we can start even."
They rode their ponies up alongside of each other, and got them in line.
Then Russ said:
"We'll ride to the bridge. The first one there wins the race."
"Yes," said Laddie, "we'll race to the bridge."
This bridge was one across the creek, at a place where the water was
deeper than anywhere else on Uncle Fred's ranch. The boys were told they
must not cross the bridge unless some older person was with them, and
they were not allowed to ride into the creek near the bridge because of
the deep water.
"All ready?" asked Russ of his brother, as they sat on their ponies.
"All ready, yes."
"Then go!"
"Gid-dap!" cried Laddie.
"Gid-dap!" yelled Russ.
The ponies began to trot. Russ and Laddie did not have whips, and they
would not have used them if they had had, for they loved their ponies
and were very kind to them. But they tapped the ponies with their hands
or their heels and shook the reins and called to them. This made the
ponies run almost as fast as if they had been whipped, and was a great
deal nicer. Besides, Russ and Laddie did not want to ride too fast, for
they might have fallen off.
On and on they raced. Sometimes Russ was ahead, and again Laddie would
be. But, just as they came near the bridge, the pony Russ was on slowed
up a bit. Laddie's pony kept on, and so he won the race.
"But I don't care," said Russ kindly. "After we rest a bit at the bridge
we'll have another race and I'll win that one."
"I hope you do, then we'll be even," said Laddie.
The little boys got off their ponies and looked about them. The ponies
began to eat the green grass, and Laddie and Russ were looking for a
shady place in which to cool off when they suddenly heard a groan. It
was quite loud, and seemed to come from near the bridge. Then a voice
called:
"Water! Oh, some one get me a drink of water!"