"We won't," promised Teddy. "Well only go with you or Uncle Frank."
"We don't find them," said the ranch owner. "I guess the Indians sold the horses and cattle and then they hid themselves. Well, I hope they don't take any more of my animals."
But there was more trouble ahead for Uncle Frank.
The Curlytops had a fine time on his ranch, though. When Teddy and Janet were not riding, they were watching the cowboys at work or play, for the men who looked after Uncle Frank's cattle had good times as well as hard work.
They would often come riding and swooping in from the distant fields after their day's work, yelling and shouting as well as firing off their big revolvers. But neither the Curlytops nor their mother were as frightened at this play of the cowboys as they had been at first.
"I wish I had a gun that would go bang," said Teddy one day.
"Oh, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" cried his sister, after the fashion of her mother. "If you had I'd never go riding ponyback with you—never again! I'd be afraid of you! So there!"
"Well, so would the Indians!" said Ted. However he knew he was too small to have a firearm, so he did not tease for it.
Sometimes, when Uncle Frank or his foreman, Jim Mason, went on short rides around the ranch, Teddy and Janet went with them on their ponies. Star Pace and Clipclap were two sturdy little animals, and were gentle with the children.
"Come on! Let's have a race!" Ted would call.