, with a shake of her curly head. "And
what's a soft-foot, Uncle Frank?"

"A soft-foot? Oh, ho! I see!" he laughed. "You mean a tenderfoot! Well,
that's what the Western cowboys call anybody from the East--where you
came from. It means, I guess, that their feet are tender because they
walk so much and don't ride a horse the way cowboys do. You see out here
we folks hardly ever walk. If we've only got what you might call a block
to go we hop on a horse and ride. So we get out of the way of walking.

"Now you Eastern folk walk a good bit--that is when you aren't riding in
street cars and in your automobiles, and I suppose that's why the
cowboys call you tenderfeet. You don't mind, though, do you, Teddy?"

"Nope," he said. "I like it. But I'm going to learn to ride a pony."

"So'm I!" exclaimed Janet.

"I wants a wide, too!" cried Trouble. "Can't I wide, Uncle Frank? We
hasn't got Nicknack, but maybe you got a goat," and he looked up at his
father's uncle.

"No, I haven't a goat," laughed Uncle Frank, "though there might be some
sheep on some of the ranches here. But I guess ponies will suit you
children better. When you Curlytops learn to ride you can take Trouble
up on the saddle with you and give him a ride. He's too small to ride by
himself yet."

"I should say he was, Uncle Frank!" cried Mrs. Martin. "Don't let _him_
get on a horse!"

"I won't," promised Mr. Barton with a laugh. But Trouble said:

"I likes a pony! I wants a wide, Muzzer!"

"You may ride with me when I learn," promised Janet.

"Dat nice," responded William.

Uncle Frank's wife, whom everyone called Aunt Millie, came out of the
ranch house and welcomed the Curlytops and the others. She had not seen
them for a number of years.

"My, how big the children are!" she cried as she looked at Janet and
Teddy. "And here's one I've never seen," she went on, as she caught
Trouble up in her arms and kissed him.

"Now come right in. Hop Sing has supper ready for you."

"Hop Sing!" laughed Mother Martin. "That sounds like a new record on the
phonograph."

"It's the name of our Chinese cook," explained Aunt Millie, "and a very
good one he is, too!"

"Are the cowboys coming in to eat with us?" asked Teddy, as they all
went into the house, where the baggage had been carried by Uncle Frank
and Daddy Martin.

"Oh, no. They eat by themselves in their own building. Not that we
wouldn't have them, for they're nice boys, all of them, but they'd
rather