The three lads rose to their feet and looked about them. To their dumbfounded amazement no ponies were to be seen.
“Great Scott, what can have become of them?” cried Jack.
“Stolen, maybe,” suggested Ralph.
“How on earth could that be? No one came near while we were resting.”
“But they are not to be seen,” objected Walt.
“Why, yes, they are,” cried Jack suddenly. “Look, they are all lying down out yonder.”
“Gracious, they lie as if they were————” began Walt, when Ralph interrupted him with a sharp cry of:
“Dead!”
In a moment the boys were at the side of their little mounts. The animals lay stretched out as if they had not an ounce of life in their bodies. But their hearts could be seen beating, and their nostrils moved as the breath passed in and out; so it was quite evident that they were alive.