all right, walked over to her
brother. She, too, saw the dark object lying on a bare spot in the
prairie. It did not move. The moonlight became stronger and Janet,
becoming brave all of a sudden, went closer.
"It's nothing but a bundle, Teddy Martin!" she exclaimed. "Somebody has
dropped a bundle."
"They have?" Teddy cried. "Then if somebody's been past here they can
find us--or we can find them--and we aren't lost anymore!"
"Oh, I hope it comes true!" sighed Janet.
"Here, you hold Clipclap--he's starting to walk away"--went on Teddy,
"and I'll go see what that is."
Janet took the pony's reins, and her brother walked toward the bundle.
He could see now that it was something wrapped in a blanket, and as he
came closer he saw that the blanket was one of the kind the cowboys at
Uncle Frank's ranch carried when they went out to spend the night on the
prairie.
"What is it?" asked Janet, as her brother picked up the bundle and came
back toward her.
"I don't know, but it's heavy," he answered. "We'll open it."
"Maybe we'd better not," cautioned Janet. "It isn't ours."
"But we're lost," Teddy said, "and we want to be found. Maybe there's
something in this bundle to help."
The blanket was fastened with a strap on the outside, and Teddy managed
to unbuckle this after two or three trials, Janet helping. Then, as the
moon shone down on what was in the blanket, the Curlytops gave a cry of
delight, which startled even the ponies.
"It's something to eat!" cried Teddy.
"And to drink!" added Janet, as she picked up the canvas-covered
canteen, or water bottle, such as soldiers carry. By shaking it she knew
it was full of water.
"Say, this is good luck!" cried Teddy.
Stopping no longer to wonder who had dropped the bundle, the Curlytops
took a drink from the canteen. They had not been used to drinking out of
a bottle since they were babies, and some of the water ran down their
necks.
But they did not mind this. And, even though the water was rather warm,
they felt much better after having had a drink.
"I wish we could give the ponies some," said Janet. "But there isn't
very much, and they would drink this all up and not know they'd had
any."
"Anyhow I guess they're not thirsty, or they'd try to find water just as
the cowboys said they would," added Teddy. "They can chew the grass."
He and Janet looked into the bundle again, and found a number of
sandwiches, together with some uncooked bacon, a li
|