and Mother Martin was just
as glad they could not, for she was afraid, if they did, they might fall
off and get hurt. But Teddy and Janet were careful, and they knew how to
sit in the saddle with their feet in the stirrups.

"They're getting to be good little riders," said Jim Mason to Uncle
Frank one day. "I'll take 'em with me the next time I go for a short
ride."

"Maybe we could find the bad Indians that took your horses, Uncle
Frank," said Teddy.

"Well, I wish you could," said the owner of Ring Rosy Ranch.

The cowboys had not been able to get back the stolen horses nor find the
Indians who had run them off. Other ranches, too, had been robbed and a
number of head of horses and cattle had been driven away.

"We've looked all over for those Indians," said Uncle Frank, "but we
can't find 'em. If you Curlytops can, I'll give you each another pony."

"I'd like Clipclap best though," announced Teddy.

"What could we do with two?" asked Janet.

"Oh, every cowboy or cowgirl, for that matter, has more than one horse
when he can," said Jim Mason. "Then if one gets lame he has another to
ride. But don't you Curlytops go off by yourselves looking for those bad
Indians!" he warned them.

"We won't," promised Teddy. "We'll 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 aroun