The Curlytops at Uncle Frank's Ranch Part 21

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 la.s.so 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 la.s.so 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 la.s.so 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 la.s.so 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, but I won't hurt you. Come on."

The little boy and girl--Teddy carrying his small la.s.so--went out to a field not far from the house, and there they played cowboy. As they had planned, Teddy was the cowboy and Janet the wild pony, and she ran around until she was tired. Teddy ran after her, now and then throwing the coils of rope at her.

Sometimes the la.s.so settled over her head, and then the little boy would pull it tight, but he was careful not to pull too hard for fear he might hurt Jan. Once the rope went around her legs, and that time Teddy gave a sudden yank.

"Oh, I'm falling!" cried Jan, and she went down in a heap.

"That's fine!" cried Teddy. "That's regular wild-wester cowboy! Do it again, Jan!"

"No! It hurts!" objected the little girl. "You pulled me so hard I fell down."

"I didn't mean to," said Teddy. "But I can la.s.so good, can't I?"

"Yes; pretty good," his sister agreed. "But you can't la.s.so me any more.

I don't want to play. I'm going to the house."

"Did I hurt you much?" Teddy asked.

"Well, not such an awful lot," admitted Jan. "I fell on some soft gra.s.s, though, or you would have. Anyhow, I'm going in."

Teddy looked a little sad for a minute, and then he cried:

"Oh, I know what I can do! You stay and watch me, Jan."

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"You'll see," he answered. "Here, you hold my la.s.so a minute."

Teddy ran off across the field, and when he came back to where his sister was still holding the coil of rope the Curlytop boy was leading by a rope a little calf, one of several that were kept in the stable and fed milk from a pail.

"What are you going to do, Teddy Martin?" asked the little girl.

"I'm going to play he's a wild steer," answered Teddy.

"Oh, The-o-dore Mar-tin!" cried Janet, much as her mother might have done. "You're not going to la.s.so him, are you?"

"I am--if I can," and Teddy spoke slowly. He was not quite sure he could.

The calf came along easily enough, for Teddy had petted it and fed it several times.

"He's awful nice," said Janet. "You won't hurt him, will you?"

"Course not!" cried Teddy. "I'll only la.s.so him a little. Now you come and hold him by the rope that's on his neck, Jan. And when I tell you to let go, why, you let go. Then he'll run and I can la.s.so _him_. I've got to la.s.so something that's running, else it isn't real wild-wester."

Jan was ready enough to play this game. She took hold of the calf's rope, and Teddy got his la.s.so ready. But just as the little fellow was about to tell his sister to let the calf loose, along came Uncle Frank and he saw what was going on.

"Oh, my, Teddy!" cried the ranchman. "You mustn't do that, Curlytop! The little calf might fall and break a leg. Wait until you get bigger before you try to la.s.so anything that's alive. Come on, we'll have other fun than this. I'm going to drive into town and you Curlytops can come with me."

So the calf was put back in the stable, and Teddy gave up la.s.soing for that day. He and Jan had fun riding to town with Uncle Frank, who bought them some sticks of peppermint candy.

Baby William had his own fun on the ranch. His mother took care of him most of the time, leaving Janet and Teddy to do as they pleased. She wanted them to learn to ride, and she knew they could not do it and take care of their little brother.

But Trouble had his own ways of having fun. He often watched Teddy throwing the la.s.so, and one afternoon, when Ted had finished with his rope and left it lying on a bench near the house, Trouble picked up the noose.

"Me la.s.so, too," he said to himself.

Just what he did no one knew, but not long after Teddy had laid aside the lariat, as the la.s.so is sometimes called, loud squawks, crowings and cackles from the chicken yard were heard.

"What in the world can be the matter with my hens?" cried Aunt Millie.

Ted and Janet ran out to see. What they saw made them want to laugh, but they did not like to do it.

Trouble had la.s.soed the big rooster!

CHAPTER XII

THE BUCKING BRONCO

With a small rope around the neck of the crowing rooster--which could not crow as loudly as it had before, because it was nearly choked--Trouble was dragging the fowl along after him as he ran across the yard.

"Trouble! Trouble!" cried Aunt Millie. "What are you doing?"

"Playin' cowboy!" was his answer. "I la.s.so rooster wif my rope, like Teddy catches post."

"Oh, you mustn't do that!" cried Aunt Millie, as she ran after the small boy and the dragging rooster.

"c.o.c.k-a doodle-do!" crowed the rooster, or, rather, it tried to crow that way, but it would get only about half of it out and then Trouble would pull the rope tight about the fowl's neck and the crow would be shut off suddenly.