Million-Dollar Horse

by Bonnie Bryant

  CAROLE LEANED FORWARD, ducking under a branch that hung low over the horse trail. She had decided it made sense to follow the widest trail that kept to the contour of the hill, suspecting that if Honey-Pie had happened upon this trail her protective instincts would have kept her on it. The trail looped around, coming back to Pine Hollow. It would be the best news in the world if she found the horse somewhere along this comfortable, safe path. Carole knew wishful thinking when she was dealing with it, but there was some logic involved as well.

  She paused every few steps, listening and looking, as she knew her friends were doing. The trail divided ahead. Carole had forgotten that fork. One part of the path continued uphill and the other went down, paralleling the creek all the way to the field. They didn’t take this lower trail very often because it skirted one of the rare ravines in these woods. It was rocky and could be dangerous. Max often warned young riders away from it.

  What convinced Carole to follow it was not that she was certain she’d find Honey-Pie there, but that she knew it was the part of the woods where Honey-Pie would be most likely to get in trouble—the only place where she might really need their help to get out.

  A sudden realization swept over her and she felt a surge of cold perspiration. The gorge. The gorge. Anything but that!

  THERE IT WAS, another ball of manure. Lisa knew she was going in the right direction, and part of her was very happy about that. Another part wasn’t happy at all. She was getting closer and closer to the bed of Willow Creek, and just across the creek, on the side of the hill that seemed so gentle right where she stood, was an area that wasn’t gentle at all. What if …?

  She stifled the thought and pressed forward.

  “Honey-Pie!” she cried out. “Honey-Pie!” Still no answer.

  The land rose to the left and Lisa followed it, knowing exactly where it would lead her. Her breath came in small gulps and her heart began pounding.

  She wasn’t at all surprised to see Carole following the path that came from above her on the hillside. She knew that Carole knew, too.

  “Where’s Stevie?” Carole asked.

  “Not far,” Lisa said. “I heard her—”

  “You guys?” Stevie said, the worry apparent in her voice. “You know what I think?”

  “Yeah, we know,” Lisa said. “We’ve all figured it out.”

  They all stopped. There were still no sounds, no horse in distress, no whinnying, nickering, chomping, stamping.

  Belle’s ears perked forward.

  “Let’s go see,” said Stevie.

  It wasn’t far to the edge. They almost didn’t want to get there, but they knew they had to.

  Where the land had broken away to form the ravine, they saw the first definite signs of the bad news they feared but somehow expected. A scramble of hoofprints told the story of a desperate but failed effort to stay on top of the hillside.

  “Honey-Pie!” Lisa called before looking over the edge. She didn’t want to look, and neither did her friends.

  There was a snort and a whinny in response. They’d found her.

  Lisa neared the edge of the steep hillside, and, holding on to a secure tree branch, she looked over.

  “She’s there!” Lisa said. “She’s standing and she’s okay, but she’s not alone!”

  “Danny!” Carole said breathlessly.

  “Wow! A thousand bucks!” said Stevie.

  IT SEEMED LIKE good news, and of course it was, but the girls knew their work wasn’t done. Stevie and Carole dismounted, secured their horses—firmly—to tree branches, and joined Lisa at the edge of the ravine.

  Knowing the horses were there was not the same thing as knowing they were okay, and it was far from the same thing as rescuing them.

  “A helicopter!” Stevie said. “I mean, between the two of them, those horses are richer than almost anybody in Willow Creek. Honey-Pie could hire a helicopter to get the two of them out of there!”

  “Well, that just leaves the little matter of letting everybody know how many rules we broke,” said Lisa.

  “I think they’re going to know anyway,” Carole said.

  “They’ll know about some, sure, but maybe they don’t have to know absolutely everything.”

  “Maybe,” Carole said. “Look, let’s go see what the situation is down there.”

  “Easier said than done,” Lisa remarked, looking at the steep climb ahead of them.

  “We have to crisscross it,” Stevie said. “We can’t go straight down or we’ll fall. If we go first to the left there and then switch back to the right, I think it’ll work.”

  Carole looked where Stevie pointed.

  “It might at that,” Carole agreed. She stood up and began the treacherous climb down to the horses.

  The girls zigzagged slowly down the hill. Carole was the first to reach the horses. Honey-Pie nuzzled her affectionately. Danny backed off. That was the difference between the two horses: One was nervous and frightened, while the other was completely calm. Carole patted Honey-Pie and checked her for injuries.

  The mare didn’t move an inch. She was utterly obedient.

  The dirt on Honey-Pie’s flank told the tale of her descent into the valley. Undignified, perhaps, but totally successful. Carole checked her legs carefully; everything was fine. There was no swelling, there were no warm spots, and the mare didn’t flinch at all.

  “She’s completely fit,” Carole said. “At least as far as I can tell.”

  Danny was still shying from his rescuers. Carole knew he was a well-behaved horse and would do what he was asked if he was asked in the right way. She unclipped the lead rope that was still attached to Honey-Pie’s bridle and handed it to Stevie to attach to Danny’s halter. A slight tug brought him to a stop. Lisa checked him over while Stevie convinced him to remain still.

  “Danny wasn’t so lucky,” Lisa said. “Look, here’s some swelling in his hind leg, and he’s got scratches on his chest.”

  Carole checked the leg and agreed with Lisa. Danny was definitely uncomfortable. Stevie tugged at the lead rope again and walked him a few yards from where he’d been standing so that Carole could see how much he favored the sore leg.

  “He can put weight on it,” Carole said, very relieved. At least he could walk and wouldn’t have to be treated right there.

  Stevie pulled her sweatshirt up over her head and fashioned a makeshift leg wrap.

  “It might help, it might not,” she said.

  “It can’t hurt,” Carole remarked.

  “Okay, now, how do we get them out of here?”

  She and her friends looked up at the hill. It seemed an even steeper climb going up than it had going down, but it was the only way out. On the other side, there was a wall of rock that was out of the question.

  “One horse at a time,” Lisa said.

  “Danny first since he’s the one who’s hurt,” said Stevie. That made sense. She tugged at the lead rope to make him walk toward the beginning of the path the girls had chosen.

  He didn’t budge.

  Stevie tugged again, gently. No good. She tugged hard. Nothing.

  “I think he’s freaked,” said Lisa. “He must have had a really bad fall.”

  The girls looked at one another. They knew they had a couple of options. They could make a blindfold. Sometimes if a horse didn’t know where he was going, he went more willingly.

  They only needed to figure out which piece of clothing would make the best blindfold.

  They chose Lisa’s windbreaker. She was taking it off and rolling it to fit Danny’s face when a curious thing happened.

  Honey-Pie intruded. She walked over to Danny and began licking him. It was something the girls had seen many times before, but never with two adult horses. Honey-Pie was licking Danny just as if he were her newborn foal. She was mothering him. She managed to get some of the mud off him. The girls stood stone still, awed by what they were seeing.

  Honey-Pie continued washing the wounded, full-grown gelding the same
way she must have tended to her own helpless babies at the moment of birth. Danny, once frozen in terror, relaxed at the soothing rub of a mother’s tongue. Honey-Pie paused and looked at her handiwork. Besides getting some of the mud off, she’d also licked his scrapes clean. She must have thought it was good enough for now, because she nudged him.

  It was a familiar motion. It was the same nudge she’d given Carole that first day in the barn, and it was how she’d pushed Lisa aside to get a drink of water earlier that day. This horse knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it.

  Danny looked at her, mild irritation evident in his stare. Honey-Pie paid him no mind. She nudged again. Danny stepped forward. Another nudge. Danny moved again, this time toward the path.

  Stevie tugged at the lead line. Danny stopped dead and glared at her. He wasn’t going to listen to Stevie at all, but he was going to do what Honey-Pie told him, even if he didn’t want to.

  Nudge, step, nudge, step.

  None of the girls said anything. They were afraid to break the spell.

  Step by step, Honey-Pie moved Danny to the hillside. Carole began walking ahead to show Honey-Pie the way. Honey-Pie figured it out. Nudge, step, nudge, step.

  It took a long time and felt like an eternity, but the progress never stopped. Honey-Pie never relented as she ordered her foster foal up the hillside, step by step.

  And then they were at the top.

  Stevie, still holding Danny’s lead rope, found that all his resistance had gone. Although his leg was bothering him, he seemed willing to be told what to do.

  What Stevie and her friends wanted him to do was to get back to Pine Hollow.

  “It might be a good idea to take a little rest,” Carole said. Both horses had just made a very difficult climb under the most unusual circumstances and had to be tired.

  “It might be a better idea to go back to where Danny can get some medical care and we can get …” Lisa paused.

  “Yelled at?” Stevie supplied.

  “Well, that, too,” said Lisa.

  For the first time in a few hours, the girls had something to smile about. They were ready to go home.

  “Look, I think good old Honey-Pie’s had enough exercise for the day,” Lisa said. “I’ll walk and lead her. You two ride, and Stevie, you keep Danny on the lead rope, okay?”

  “Deal,” Stevie agreed.

  Lisa took Honey-Pie’s reins and tugged in the direction of the trail that would lead them home. Honey-Pie, however, refused to budge.

  “What’s going on with you?” Lisa asked, tugging again. “Are you okay?”

  Honey-Pie’s response was to nudge Lisa—toward her own saddle. Lisa shook her head and tugged. Honey-Pie stood her ground and nudged.

  “I think she wants you to get in the saddle,” Stevie translated.

  “I think I understood that,” Lisa said. “I just don’t understand it.”

  “It’s simple,” Stevie said. “Remember how my dad told us what a great broodmare and mother this horse is—uh, was … uh, whatever?”

  “Yeah,” Lisa said.

  “She’s like almost any mother I’ve ever known, then. She wants to be the boss of the whole wide world and she’s not going to be happy until you do exactly what she tells you to do.”

  Lisa sighed. She was used to dealing with strong-willed mothers. She just wasn’t used to having the mother be a horse.

  “All right, then,” she said to the mare, reaching for the left stirrup with her toe. “I’ll do this now, but I absolutely refuse to go to the mall with you after dinner!”

  Honey-Pie seemed satisfied with the deal. As soon as Lisa was settled in the saddle, the three riders and four horses went where they most wanted to go: home.

  WHAT WAS WAITING for them at Pine Hollow was trouble, and it was standing in a row at the edge of the schooling ring. Max was there and Mrs. Reg, as well as Max’s wife, Deborah. Veronica was there, too, along with her parents, and so were Paul and Mr. Stookey.

  Max had a pair of field glasses. He was the first one to spot them. As soon as he did, the ranks broke and everybody who had been waiting ran to greet them—some happy to see them, some not so happy.

  The first words out of Veronica’s mouth were, “What have you done to Danny?”

  The question almost took Stevie’s breath away because it was so utterly Veronica. “Rescued him,” she said, but she didn’t offer any details.

  Veronica eyed the homemade bandage with disdain.

  “Just a little swelling,” Carole said. “He’ll be fine.”

  “But the scratches!”

  There was no way to satisfy Veronica, ever. None of the girls thought it was worth trying.

  “Is she okay?” Ben Stookey asked, looking at the now obviously tired Honey-Pie.

  “She’s just wonderful,” Lisa said. “This is one of the world’s greatest horses. As far as we’re concerned, she’s worth every penny of her bank account—and then some. You just wouldn’t believe—”

  Carole coughed, shushing Lisa. Lisa looked at her quizzically but kept quiet. They could talk later.

  “She’s really okay?” That was Paul speaking. His words might have been intended to convey concern, but the tone of his voice betrayed pure disappointment.

  “Really okay,” Stevie confirmed. “Just ready for a rest.”

  Paul’s lips tightened into a thin, straight line. He had nothing more to say.

  Then Max reached them. He did have something to say. “I think it would be a good idea if we had a little talk in my office,” he said in a very controlled voice. “After you’ve looked after your—and Mr. Stookey’s—horses.” He turned to Veronica. “You can take care of Danny now, can’t you?” he asked. Veronica nodded and took the lead line from Stevie without a word or a sign of thanks.

  The girls took as long as they could to groom, water, and feed their horses. They were not looking forward to their meeting with Max.

  “I DON’T GET you three,” Max began much more calmly than they had thought he might. “Do you have any idea how important it is to Pine Hollow to have a horse like Honey-Pie stabled here? The three of you are perfectly willing to risk my reputation by flouting my specific instructions, and my promise to a misguided owner, by taking that horse out on a trail ride—which was exactly what she needed, every bit as much as she needed to be longed—and to chance annoying the ignorant owners by caring for their horse the way she ought to be cared for?”

  The girls exchanged glances. They were hearing this wrong.

  “What took you so long?” Max demanded.

  “You mean to get back?”

  “No!” he bellowed. “To take her out on the trail. The three of you are willing to ignore all kinds of sensible rules and regulations. How come it took you so long to break the silliest order any owner ever gave me about a horse?”

  “I don’t get it,” Carole whispered.

  “You don’t have to,” Stevie whispered back. “Max isn’t angry at us.”

  “I am a little,” said Max. “You should have let me know that Paul was giving you orders.”

  “We weren’t paying any attention to his orders,” said Lisa. “Only we didn’t know why he was doing it until last night.”

  “You might have told us what was going on with all that fiduciary and trustee stuff. We could have understood it. You could have trusted us,” Stevie said.

  “Maybe,” Max said. “Well, look. You did break an order and you did it in a way that let absolutely everybody here know you did it.”

  “Yes, we know,” Lisa said.

  “My mother tells me there’s a lot of tack that needs a lot of attention,” said Max.

  “We’ve got to clean it all?” Stevie asked.

  “Until you can see the reflection of your faces in the gleaming leather!” Max said.

  “Yes sir!” Carole said, standing up.

  Stevie stood up, too, and gave Lisa a hand to help her to her feet. She thought it would be a good idea to get out of Max’s
office before he got any more ideas relating to things like manure piles.

  * * *

  “WE’RE THE LUCKIEST GIRLS in the world,” Lisa said an hour later as she finished making her third saddle gleam.

  “Because we get to ride a lot?” Carole asked.

  “No, because we’ve just had a very fine day and we’ve spent almost all of it with horses,” Stevie said.

  “Okay, so let’s see if we can list all the fine things that happened,” Lisa suggested.

  “We saved two horses’ lives,” said Carole.

  “Maybe not,” Stevie corrected her. “I’m not sure we had much to do with saving Danny. I think all the work was done by Honey-Pie.”

  “Hey, why wouldn’t you let me tell Mr. Stookey about that?” Lisa asked Carole, recalling the cough that had cut her tale short.

  “Oh, easy,” said Stevie. “See, if we have to tell them about the wonderful job Honey-Pie did, we have to let them know she did it because she ran off—and incidentally, my theory is that awful noise was actually Danny crying out when he fell—”

  “Me too,” Carole said, having come to the same conclusion.

  “Me three,” Lisa added.

  “And if they don’t know she ran off, they don’t know that we didn’t tie her securely enough—”

  “That horse can be so stubborn, nothing would have held her when she decided to go to Danny,” Lisa said, remembering the nudging Honey-Pie had given her.

  “Well, let me just say that there are a few things people don’t actually have to know about what happened today, and all of them have to do with us looking careless,” said Stevie.

  “Okay,” Lisa agreed.

  “Now, the next question—”

  Veronica came into the tack room and seemed displeased to find them there. “Oh, you’re here,” she said.

  “For a while,” Stevie said, indicating the dwindling pile of tack lined up for a careful cleaning.

  “Daddy asked me to find out who I should make out the check to,” she said.

  It had been a while since any of them had thought about the reward. A thousand dollars.

  “Can we get back to you in a minute?” Carole asked. “We need to talk.”