"But is my broncho going to lie here all day?" queried Chunky. "If that's his idea I might as well give him another argument that will make him change his mind."
"Let him alone. He'll be better off if you do not force him. When he gets up be gentle but firm with him."
"That's the strangest thing I ever saw," said Tad quietly.
"Most remarkable," agreed the Professor.
The faces of the boys were serious. They too began to perceive the feeling that had stirred the ponies to resist when turned toward the silent plains that lay spread for mile upon mile before them.
After a few minutes Stacy's pony scrambled to its feet. The lad was in the saddle in a twinkling.
"Now, I guess you'll go where I want you to. Whoa! Quit that b-b-b-b-bucking."
The animal had gone into a series of jolting bucks, with back arched and head well down. The fat boy held his seat well. His face was red and streaked with perspiration which ran down it in tiny rivulets under the violent exercise to which he had just been subjected.
The boys forgot the serious side of the incident in their enjoyment of their companion's discomfiture.
Tom Parry gazed upon the scene with more than ordinary curiosity. It was the first opportunity he had had of observing a Pony Rider Boy in action. At that moment Stacy Brown was most distinctly in action. Most of the time there was a broad patch of daylight under him, and when he hit the saddle it was with a jolt that seemed as if it must jar his head from his body.