Trouble. Up and down the street in
front of their home the Martin children drove their pet goat.

"Whee, this is fun!" cried Ted, as he made Nicknack run downhill with
the wagon.

"Oh, Teddy Martin, don't go so fast!" begged Janet.

"I like to go fast!" answered her brother. "I'm going to play Wild West.
This is the stage coach and pretty soon the Indians will shoot at us!"

"Teddy Martin! if you're going to do that I'm not going to play!"
stormed Janet. "You'll make Trouble fall out and get hurt. Come on,
Trouble! Let us get out!" she cried. Nicknack was going quite fast down
the hill.

"Wait till we get to the bottom," shouted Ted. "G'lang there, pony!" he
cried to the goat.

"Let me out!" screamed Janet. "I want to get out."

At the foot of the hill Teddy stopped the goat and Janet, taking Trouble
with her, got out and walked back to the house.

"What's the matter now?" asked Mrs. Martin from the porch where she had
come out to get a little fresh air.

"Ted's playing Wild West in the goat-wagon," explained Janet.

"Oh, Ted! Don't be so rough!" begged his mother of her little son, who
drove up just then.

"Oh, I'm only playing Indians and stage coach," he said. "You've got to
go fast when the Indians are after you!" and away he rode.

"He's awful mean!" declared Janet.

"I don't know what's come over Ted of late," said Mrs. Martin to her
husband, who came up the side street just then from his store.

"What's he been doing?" asked Mr. Martin.

"Oh, he's been pretending he was a bucking bronco, like those Uncle
Frank has on his ranch, and he tossed Trouble downstairs. But the baby
didn't get hurt, fortunately. Now Ted's playing Wild West stagecoach
with Nicknack and Janet got frightened and wouldn't ride."

"Hum, I see," said Ted's father slowly. "Our boy is getting older, I
guess. He needs rougher play. Well, I think I've just the very thing to
suit him, and perhaps Janet and all of us."

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Martin, as her husband drew a letter from his
pocket.

"This is an invitation from Uncle Frank for all of us to come out to his
ranch in Montana for the summer," was the answer. "We have been talking
of going, you know, and now is a good chance. I can leave the store for
a while, and I think it would do us all good--the children especially--to
go West. So if you'd like it, we'll pack up and go."

"Go where?" asked Ted, driving around near the veranda in time to hear
his father's last wo