Datasets:
apapiu
/
simple_text_files

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
0
16.8k
"And may we ride to-morrow?" asked Laddie when it was time to go back to the house.
"Yes," promised his uncle, "to-morrow we may all take a ride over the plain."
"Goody!" exclaimed Violet.
"Will mother come, too?" asked Rose.
"No, indeed!" laughed Mrs. Bunker. "I don't know how to ride pony-back, and I'm not going to learn now. You children can go."
"That's what we'll do then," said Uncle Fred. "Daddy and I will take Rose and Vi and Laddie and Russ for a ride over the plain. We'll go and see if we can find where our spring water comes from, and why it shuts itself off in that queer way."
The children waved good-bye to the ponies, and went back to the house. On the broad, shady porch stood Captain Roy. He was waiting for Uncle Fred, and there was a worried look on the old soldier's face.
"What's the matter?" asked the ranchman of his partner.
"More bad news," was the answer. "One of the cowboys just rode in to tell me that some more of the cattle have been taken."
"I might have known it!" cried Uncle Fred. "When the spring goes dry other bad news is sure to come in!"
Chapter XI
Violet Takes A Walk
Uncle Fred seemed tired as he sat down in a chair on the porch. He looked up at Captain Roy and asked:
"How many cattle gone this time?"
"About twenty-five. One of the cowboys, who was watching them, rode over to the far end of the field to see about a steer that had fallen into a big hole and couldn't get out, and when he got back the twenty-five steers were gone."
"Hum! More work of those bad men!" exclaimed Uncle Fred. "Well, we'll see if we can catch them. Want to come along?" he asked Daddy Bunker.
"Where are you going?"
"To see if we can find the lost cattle. Maybe we can catch the men who drove them away."
"Oh, let me come!" begged Russ. "Maybe I can lasso 'em!"
"They might lasso you!" laughed his father. "No, you had better stay here. We'll soon be back."
"Oh, Daddy, please?"
"Not this time, Sonny," answered his father.
So Uncle Fred and Daddy Bunker, with some of the cowboys, saddled their horses and started off to look for the lost cattle.
"I wish I could go!" sighed Russ, as he watched the horsemen riding off.
"So do I," echoed Laddie. "We could maybe help catch 'em. Mother, couldn't we go?"
"They'd be more likely to catch you, just as the calf did," said Mother Bunker. "Wouldn't they, Captain Roy?"
"Yes, indeed," answered the old soldier, smiling at the children. "Men who take cattle that do not belong to them are very likely to be bad men, and they would not be nice to the six little Bunkers. You stay with me, and you may come out and see the ponies again, though I won't promise you can ride on them."
"Are you going to feed them?" asked Mun Bun.
"No, they feed themselves on the grass in their field," said the captain.
"I don't like to eat grass," said Mun Bun, shaking his head.
"Neither do I," added Margy.
"Why, I do declare! I believe you're hungry," laughed Captain Roy. "And it's two hours until supper. Come on, we'll go see what Bill Johnson has in his cupboard."
"Could I come, too?" asked Russ. "I -- I guess I'm hungry."
"So'm I," put in Laddie.
"Me, too!" added Violet.
"Come on, all of you!" laughed Captain Roy. "It's almost as easy to feed six as it is two," he added to Mother Bunker.
"Oh, it's too bad to bother you," she said quickly.
"No bother at all!" exclaimed the old soldier. "I know I used to want my rations when I was in the army, and I guess there isn't much difference nowadays. Come along, little Bunkers!"
Soon the children were having bread and milk, with a dish of canned peaches in addition. There were big cases of canned peaches in Bill Johnson's kitchen, and when Russ asked him why he had so many the cook said:
"Well, the boys seem to like 'em more than anything else. It's hard to get fresh fruit out on a cattle ranch, so I keep plenty of the canned stuff on hand. Often a cowboy will eat two cans at once when he comes in from a ride very hungry."
So the six little Bunkers had something to eat, even if it was not supper time, and then they went with Captain Roy to look at the ponies again.
"Oh, look how they run to the fence to meet us!" cried Rose, as some of the ponies in the corral trotted toward the captain and the children.
"That's because they think I have a bit of bread and sugar for them," said Captain Roy.
"Have you?" asked Violet.
"Yes. I hardly ever come out without bringing them something," answered the old soldier.
He reached over the fence to pat the glossy necks and soft noses of the ponies, feeding them bits of dried bread, of which he seemed to have a lot in his pockets.
"Bill Johnson saves me all his old crusts for the ponies," Captain Roy said to Russ. "And if you bring the little horses something to eat each time you come out they'll like you all the more, and get very tame."
"I'll do it," said Russ.