ll over, thinking this, surely,
would get that man off his back.

It did. But when Imp tried to roll over on the foreman, to hurt him, Jim
Mason just laughed and jumped out of the way. He knew Imp would probably
do this and he was ready for him.

Jim watched Imp, and as soon as the bronco stopped rolling and stood up
again the foreman jumped into the saddle. This was too much for Imp. He
made up his mind he could not get rid of such a good rider, so the horse
settled down and galloped around the corral as he ought to do.

"Hurray! Jim rides him after all!" cried some of the cowboys.

"I told you I'd stick to him," said the foreman with a laugh.

"I wish I could ride that way," said Teddy, with a little sigh when Jim
came out of the corral and left Imp to have a rest.

"Well, maybe you will some day," said the foreman. "You've got a good
start, and there's no better place to learn to ride ponyback than at
Ring Rosy Ranch."

One warm, pleasant afternoon, when they had played about the house for
some time, amusing themselves at the games they were wont to pass the
time with in the East, Jan called to her brother:

"Let's go and take a ride on our ponies!"

"All right," agreed Teddy. "Where'll we go?"

"Oh, not very far. Mother told us we mustn't go very far when we're
alone."

"That was before we knew how to ride," declared the little boy. "I guess
we ride good enough now to take long rides."

"But not now," insisted Jan. "We'll only go for a little way, or I'm not
going to play."

"All right," Teddy agreed. "We won't go very far."

So they went out to the stable where their ponies were kept, and there
one of the cowboys kindly saddled Clipclap and Star Face for the little
Curlytops. Uncle Frank had given orders to his men that they were to let
the children have the ponies whenever it was safe to ride, and this was
one of the nicest days of the summer.

"Don't let 'em run away with you!" laughed the cowboy, as he helped Jan
and Ted into their saddles.

"Oh, Clipclap and Star Face won't run away!" declared the little girl.
"They're too nice."

"Yes, they are nice ponies," agreed the cowboy. "Well, good-bye and good
luck."

Riding up to the house, to tell their mother they were going for a ride,
but would keep within sight or calling distance, Ted and Jan were soon
guiding their ponies across the prairie.

The children had soon learned to sit well in the saddles, and knew how
to guide their ponies. A