"What are you going to do?"
"I'd like to ride Sparkle to some places I haven't seen."
"Go right ahead, honey. I expect this must be pretty tiresome for you. Just be careful."
"I will," Cindy promised, "and I'll be back in time to make supper."
She prepared a cold lunch, then saddled and bridled Sparkle and rode toward a distant hill that rose to the west. Having done very little except eat grass, Sparkle was anxious for action too, and he set off at a fast canter. Everywhere were men who waved at Cindy as she passed, but they were too busy to stop and talk.
Then, after about two hours, there were no more people. Nearing the hill, the country became rough and broken. There were upthrust seams of rock, boulders, stones, and instead of rich grass, only brush and small trees. Nobody had staked this land, because it was too poor for good farming.
Cindy liked it, and it was fun to be alone. She'd had a secret hope of finding hostile Indians in Oklahoma and battling them, and she had been more than a little disappointed when told there weren't any. But she could imagine there were Indians here.
Reaching the top, Cindy found her path blocked by little evergreens whose branches were so thickly intertwined that Sparkle couldn't get through. It was dark beneath the trees, and mysterious, and far too interesting to pass by.
Tying Sparkle to a tree, Cindy got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the evergreens. A bunch of wild turkeys ran before her, squirrels flicked their tails, and a woodpecker hammered noisily. Cindy quivered with delight, for she had hoped to find just such a place.
Ten minutes after entering the evergreens, Cindy came to an arroyo, or canyon. About thirty feet deep, its walls were solid rock. Though they were steep, they were not too steep to descend or climb. The arroyo was perhaps forty feet from rim to rim, and on the far side was a roomy cave into which Cindy could see clearly. Water dripped into the cave, whose walls must have formed a natural sounding board, for Cindy could hear every drop as it fell.