They were both getting sleepy.
Pretty soon Janet saw ahead of her something glistening in the
stretch of the prairie. The moonlight seemed to sparkle on it.
"Oh, look, Ted!" she cried, pointing.
"It's water--a little river!" he exclaimed. "The ponies have led us
to water!"
And so the animals had. Teddy and Janet slipped from their ponies'
backs at the edge of the stream and then Star Face and Clipclap took
long drinks. Ted emptied the canteen, filled it with the cooler
water, and he and Janet drank again. Then they felt much better.
The ponies again began to crop the grass. The Curlytops, very tired
and sleepy, felt that it would be all right to make their bed in the
blanket they had found, dropped by some passing cowboy.
But first Ted looked around. Off to one side, and along the stream
from which they had drunk, he saw something dark looming up.
"Look, Janet," he said. "Maybe that's a ranch house over there, and
we could go in for the night."
"Maybe," she agreed. "Let's go to it."
Once more they mounted their ponies. The animals did not seem so
tired now, but trotted on over the prairie. They drew nearer to the
dark blotch Teddy had noticed.
Then, as the moon came out from behind some clouds, the Curlytops
saw that they were at the entrance to a hidden valley--a little
valley tucked away among the hills, which they would never have seen
had they not come to the stream to drink.
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