nd the little animals were very safe.

"Somehow or other, I don't feel at all worried here when the children
are out of my sight--I mean Teddy and Janet," said Mrs. Martin to her
husband, when the Curlytops had ridden away.

"Yes, Uncle Frank's ranch does seem a safe place for them," Mr. Martin
answered. "Lots of 'down East' people think the West is a dangerous
place. Well, maybe it is in spots, but it is very nice here."

On over the prairies rode Teddy and Janet. Now and then the little girl
would stop her pony and look back.

"What are you looking for?" Teddy asked. "Do you think Trouble is
following us?"

"No, but we mustn't go too far from the house. We must stay in sight of
it, mother said."

"Well, we will," promised Ted.

But, after a while, perhaps it was because it was so nice to ride along
on the ponies' backs, or because the little animals went faster than Ted
or Janet imagined--I don't know just how it did happen, but, all at
once, Jan looked back and gave a cry.

"Why, what's the matter, Jan?" asked Teddy.

"We--we're lost!" gasped the little girl. "I can't see Uncle Frank's
house anywhere!"

It was true enough. None of the ranch buildings were in sight, and for a
moment Ted, too, was frightened. Then as his pony moved on, a little
ahead of Jan's, the boy gave a cry of delight.

"There it is! I can see the house!" he said. "We're not lost. We were
just down in a hollow I guess."

And so it was. The prairies, though they look level, are made up of
little hills and valleys, or hollows. Down in between two hills one
might be very near a house and yet not see it.

"Now we're all right," went on Teddy.

"Yes," agreed Janet. "We're not lost any more."

So they rode on a little farther, the ponies now and then stopping to
crop a bit of the sweet grass, when, all of a sudden, Teddy, who was
still a little ahead of his sister, called:

"Look there, Jan!"

"Where?"

Teddy pointed. His sister saw several men on horseback--at least that is
what they looked like--coming toward them. Something about the figures
seemed a bit strange to the children. Ted and Jan looked at one another
and then back toward the ranch houses, which, they made sure, were not
out of sight this time.

"Are they cowboys?" asked Jan of her brother.

"They--they don't just look like 'em," he said. "I mean like Uncle
Frank's cowboys."

"That's what I thought," Janet added. "They look like they had blankets
on--some of 'e