The corral, or yard where the half-tamed horses were kept while they
were being got ready to send away, was closed by a large gate, but
one easy to open if you knew how. All one had to do was to pull on a
little handle, which snapped a spring and the gate would swing open.
Horses and cattle could not open the gate, for they could not reach
the handle, even if any of them had known enough to do anything like
that.
But Trouble had watched Uncle Frank or some of the cowboys open the
gate by pulling on the handle; and now he did it himself. Then, of
course, when the ponies saw the open gate they raced out.
"Get after 'em!" cried Uncle Frank who came galloping up on his
horse to find out what was the matter. "Get after the ponies, boys!
Round them up!"
"Round up," is what cowboys call riding around a lot of horses or
cattle to keep the animals in one place or to drive them where they
should go. Uncle Frank wanted his cowboys to ride after the runaway
ponies and drive them back into the corral.
As the wild little horses trotted out through the gate, behind which
Trouble stood, well out of danger, the cowboys rode after them,
yelling and shouting and shooting their revolvers.
"What a lot of noise!" cried Janet, covering her ears with her hands
as she got down off the fence.
"I like it!" laughed Teddy. "It's like a Wild West show!"
Indeed it was, in a way, but it meant a lot of work for Uncle Frank
and his men.
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