at they might be
seen by the lost children.

"Hello, Curlytops! where are you?" called the cowboys.

But no one answered them. Teddy and Janet were far away.

The cowboys rode as far as the pile of rocks where the spring bubbled
up. There Baldy, swinging his lantern to and fro, said he thought he
could see the marks of the feet of Star Face and Clipclap among those
of other ponies, but he was not sure.

"We'll have to come back here and start out early in the morning when we
can see better," he said.

"And what are we going to do all night?" asked another cowboy.

"Well, we'll keep on hunting, of course. But I don't believe we'll find
the lost Curlytops."

One of the men rode back to the ranch to tell Mrs. Martin that so far,
no trace of the missing children had been found. She could not keep back
her tears, but she tried to be brave.

"Oh, where can they be?" she asked.

"They'll be all right," the cowboy said. "It's a nice warm night, and
they're brave children. Even if they had to sleep out it would not hurt
'em. They could take the blankets that are under the ponies' saddles and
wrap up in them. They'll be all right."

Though they were lost, the Curlytops were, at that moment, much better
off than the cowboy thought. For they had found the big blanket and the
bundle of food, and they were sleeping soundly on the prairie.

At first they had been a little afraid to lie down all alone out in the
night, but their ponies were with them, and Janet said it felt as though
Clipclap and Star Face were like good watch dogs.

Then, being very tired and having had something to eat and drink, they
fell asleep.

All night long, though, the cowboys rode over the prairie looking for
the lost ones. They shouted and called, but the Curlytops were too far
away to hear or to answer, even if they had been awake.

"Well, now we can make a better hunt," said Baldy, when he saw the sun
beginning to rise. "Well get something to eat and start out from the
spring in the rocks. I'm almost sure the Curlytops were there."

Mrs. Martin had not slept all night, and when the cowboys came back to
breakfast she said she was going to ride with them to search for her
children.

"Yes, I think it would do you good," said Aunt Millie.

Mrs. Martin had learned how to ride when a girl, and she had practised
some since coming to Ring Rosy Ranch. So she did not feel strange in the
saddle. With Baldy and the other cowboys she set off.

Th