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.