stand still for you, the way the post does."

"Yes," agreed Ted, "I guess so. I'll learn to lasso something that
runs."

His father paid little more attention to the boy, except to notice that
he went out into the yard, where he was seen, for a time, tossing the
coils of rope over the post. Then Jan came along, and, as soon as he saw
her, Teddy asked:

"Jan, will you do something for me!"

"What?" she inquired, not being too ready to make any promises.
Sometimes Teddy got her to say she would do things, and then, when he
had her promise, he would tell her something she did not at all want to
do. So Jan had learned to be careful.

"What do you want to do, Teddy?" she asked.

"Play cowboy," he answered.

"Girls can't be cowboys," Janet said.

"Well, I don't want _you_ to be one," went on Teddy. "I'll be the
cowboy."

"Then what'll _I_ be?" asked Jan. "That won't be any fun, for you to do
that and me do nothing!"

"Oh, I've got something for you to do," said Teddy, and he was quite
serious over it. "You see, Jan, I've got to learn to lasso something
that moves. The post won't move, but you can run."

"Do you mean run and play tag?" Jan asked.

Teddy shook his head.

"You make believe you're a wild cow or a pony," he explained, "and you
run along in front of me. Then I'll throw my rope around your head, or
around your legs, and I'll pull on it and you----"

"Yes, and I'll fall down and get all dirt!" finished Jan. "Ho! I don't
call _that_ any fun for me!"

"Well, I won't lasso you very hard," promised Ted; "and I've got to
learn to throw my rope at something that moves, the cowboys say, else I
can't ever be a real wild-wester. Go on, Jan! Run along and let me lasso
you!"

Jan did not want to, but Teddy teased her so hard that she finally gave
in and said she would play she was a pony for a little while. Teddy
wanted her to be a wild steer, but she said ponies could run faster than
the cattle, and Jan was a good runner.

"And if I run fast it will be harder for you to lasso me," she said,
"and that's good practice for you, same as it is good for me when I
practice my music scales fast, only I don't do it very much."

"Well, you run along and I'll lasso you," said Teddy. "Only we'd better
go around to the back of the house. Maybe they wouldn't like to see me
doing it."

"Who; the cowboys?" asked his sister.

"No, father and mother," replied Teddy. "I don't guess they'd want me to
play this game, bu