Cowboys always dread gopher and prairie dog holes, especially at
night when they can not be so easily seen.
"Oh, I know what let's do!" exclaimed Janet, when she found that her
brother was all right.
"What?" asked Teddy.
"Let's wait here until the gopher comes up!"
"All right. Then we'll catch him and take him home to Trouble."
CHAPTER XV
TROUBLE "HELPS"
Janet and Teddy sat beside the gopher hole, while their ponies, not
far from them, ate the sweet grass of the prairie. Clipclap and Star
Face did not wander away, even if they were not tied to a hitching
post. For Western horses and cow ponies are trained to stand where
their master leaves them, if he will but toss the reins over their
heads and let them rest on the ground.
When a pony sees that this has been done he will never run away,
unless perhaps something frightens him very much. It may be that he
thinks, when the reins are over his head and down on the ground, they
are tied to something, so he could not run away if he wanted to.
At any rate, Clipclap and Star Face stayed where Ted and Janet left
them, and the little Curlytops watched the gopher hole.
"I wonder when he'll come out," said Janet after a bit.
"Shs-s-s-s!" whispered Teddy. "Don't talk!"
"Why not?" asked his sister.
"'Cause you might scare him. You mustn't talk any more than if you
were fishing.
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