"That's all right," laughed Rhoda. "I asked him about them last
night"

They ran out to the corral as soon as the girls got into their new
riding habits. They had had them made something like Rhoda's.

"You see," the latter had said, "our ponies are not often trained
for side-saddles and skirts. And, then, they are dangerous."

The silent Hesitation was on hand. He had a bunch of ponies
gathered in a particular corral, and pointed to them in answer to
Rhoda when she asked if they were perfectly safe. About the time
the girls and Walter had looked them over and chosen those they
liked, the horse wrangler said:

"All broke for tenderfoots. You can trust any of 'em as long as you
keep your eyes open."

"Well," murmured Bess, "I certainly do not intend to ride horseback
when I am asleep."

Nan chose for herself a cunning little fat pony, with brown and
white patches and a pink nose. In the East it would have been
called a calico pony; but Rhoda called it a pinto.

The Eastern girls were just a little doubtful of their mounts,
because their tails and ears were always twitching and they seemed
quite unable to "make their feet behave."