“Wow,” Stevie said grimly. Her friends didn’t say a word for a few minutes. They were too shocked by what they saw to speak.
Finally Lisa broke the silence. “She looks even worse than Sal,” she whispered.
It took Carole and Stevie a moment to realize what Lisa was talking about. Then they remembered. Sal was a horse that had been rescued by a local animal welfare organization called the County Animal Rescue League, or CARL for short. He had been badly neglected and abused. Lisa had met Sal when she had visited the CARL facility. Despite the top-notch care he had received there, Sal’s injuries had proved to be too much for him, and he had died not long after being rescued. The memory of the abused horse was something Lisa would never forget.
“She looks bad, all right,” Carole said, staring at the mare, which hadn’t reacted to their arrival at all. “In fact, I’d guess she’s just about on her last legs. We’ve got to get help. Fast.” She sometimes volunteered as an assistant to the local equine vet, Judy Barker. While making rounds with Judy, Carole had seen a number of abused animals. She knew immediate medical attention was the key factor in their recovery—though some, like Sal, were too far gone to save.
“There’s only one thing to do,” Stevie said. “Let’s call CARL. This mare qualifies for a rescue if any animal ever did.”
“I hate to leave her here,” Lisa said, taking a step closer to the fence. At the movement, the mare raised her head for the first time and stared dully at the girls.
“Don’t try to approach her,” Carole advised gently. “We’d better leave that to the experts.” She glanced at the farmhouse again. “I just hope whoever did this doesn’t come back before the people from CARL get here.”
“That doesn’t seem too likely,” Stevie said.
“No,” Carole agreed. She glanced again at the empty house and shuddered. “Still, I wouldn’t want to take any chances.”
“Maybe I should stay here with her,” Lisa said.
Stevie shook her head. “No way. If the horse’s owners come back, I don’t think you’d want to meet them alone.”
“Right,” Carole agreed. “Anyone who could do this to a horse probably wouldn’t hesitate to do something just as horrible to you. We’d better hurry and find a phone.”
“There’s one in the visitors’ center by the park entrance,” Stevie said. She pulled out the map she had picked up at the visitors’ center and studied it carefully. “If we take the Green Trail we’ll get back much faster.”
“Let’s go,” Carole said. She started to follow, then paused and glanced back at Lisa, who had lifted her camera and was pointing it at the mare. “Come on, Lisa,” she called.
“Just a minute,” Lisa replied. She could barely stand to look at the poor battered creature through the viewfinder, but she forced herself to use the last of the film photographing the horse. She had a feeling the pictures would come in handy.
Then she turned and followed her friends, glancing over her shoulder at the mare every few steps. The horse barely seemed aware of their retreat. Her head was hanging down once again, and her sunken sides moved visibly as she struggled to breathe.
“Hold on,” Lisa whispered under her breath. “Please hold on. You’ll be safe soon.”
She just hoped it was true.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER the girls were on the phone with the volunteer receptionist at CARL, a young man named Nicholas Canfield. After taking down all the necessary information, he warned the girls not to go back to the farm.
“But we want to help,” Lisa insisted.
“Are you sure about that?” Nicholas asked. “If the horse is as bad off as you say, there may not be much we can do. It might be easier if you weren’t there in case we have to put her down.”
Lisa didn’t even want to think about that. “We want to help,” she said again.
“All right then. Just wait at the park in the visitors’ center,” Nicholas said. “One of the cars will pick you up on the way back. But don’t go near that farm yourselves.”
“We won’t,” Lisa promised. “But please hurry.”
As Lisa started to hang up, Carole took the phone and fished another quarter out of her pocket. “I want to call Judy,” she said. “They might not call her until after they bring the horse back, and there’s no time to lose. Besides, maybe we can prepare her for some of the problems.”
“Good idea,” Stevie said. “If anyone can help that horse, Judy can.”
Carole reached the vet on the phone in her truck. With the other two girls helping her, she quickly told Judy everything she could remember about the mare’s condition.
“Sounds bad,” Judy said when they had finished, her voice strange and tinny on the portable phone. “I’m not far from CARL right now. I’ll head over there and get ready to meet them when they return with the mare.”
“We’ll see you there,” Carole promised, then hung up. After that, all the girls could do was wait.
IT SEEMED LIKE hours before one of the CARL volunteers arrived at the visitors’ center to pick up The Saddle Club. The volunteer, a plump, friendly middle-aged woman with blond hair who introduced herself as Luanne Gregg, told them that the rescue had been successful and that the horse was on her way to the CARL facility.
“We took the police along in case of any trouble,” she explained. “But the owner wasn’t home. The cops stayed behind to wait.” She paused. “I hope they’ll be able to convince the owner to turn over that dog we heard inside the house, too. If the horse was treated this badly, it’s a safe bet the dog isn’t being properly cared for, either.”
“I hope the police catch the owner soon,” Lisa said forcefully. “I hope they throw the jerk in jail and throw away the key.”
Luanne nodded. “I know, sweetie. It’s hard to believe how cruel some people can be,” she said. “That’s why I like working with CARL. It makes me feel like I’m doing something important.”
It wasn’t far to the facility, which consisted of a redbrick building set on several acres dotted with runs and kennels. There was also a small corral where Sal had spent his final days and where the few other large animals CARL rescued were kept.
“It looks pretty crowded,” Carole commented as Luanne pulled her car up to the CARL building. Most of the outdoor kennels were occupied, and there were several goats and a small flock of sheep in the corral. The sounds of barking and bleating filled the air.
“We have a full house, all right,” Luanne said. “Those goats and sheep come from a small farm whose barn burned down last week. The owner is down on his luck and can’t afford to board them, so we were called in to help him out until he can rebuild. We’re glad to do it, of course, but it does make space a little tight.”
“Look, that must be the mare now,” Stevie said, pointing. A horse van was just turning into the driveway. Judy Barker’s familiar pickup truck was already parked in front of the building.
The van stopped and the girls piled out of the car and watched Judy Barker and several other women, whom The Saddle Club recognized as CARL workers, coax the mare out. The horse was obviously nervous, shying as best she could in the narrow confines of the van. At last she seemed to tire from the fight, and Judy led her down the ramp into the grassy yard. Even then, the mare watched Judy nervously. When the vet reached up to stroke her head, the mare moved back a step.
“I guess she’s afraid of people,” Stevie said.
“Wouldn’t you be if you were her?” Lisa asked. “I wonder where they’re going to put her.” She glanced at the corral, where the curious goats and sheep had moved toward the fence to watch the action in the yard.
The CARL volunteers held the mare while Judy checked her over. The examination seemed to take a long time. It took Judy several tries to lift each of the horse’s feet, especially the swollen one, and the mare flinched every time she was touched. When Judy gave her a series of shots, the mare tossed her head and backed up. Another volunteer had to hurry forward to help keep her still.
“She doesn’t seem violent or anything,” Carole commented as she watched. “She’s just trying to get away because she’s scared.”
“That’s a good sign, isn’t it?” Stevie said.
“I hope so,” Carole said with a shrug.
Finally Judy stepped back, and one of the volunteers led the mare to the paddock gate and released her inside. The sheep and goats came forward to sniff at her, but the horse ignored the other animals completely. Her head was hanging lower than ever, and she seemed completely exhausted.
Lisa left her friends by the paddock fence and hurried over to Judy, who was crouched down beside her truck, rummaging through her black medical bag. “How is she?” she asked the vet.
Judy stood up and looked down at Lisa, her expression grim. “Bad,” she said. “About as bad as she can be. I’ve given her a tetanus shot and antibiotics, and some of the CARL people are already busy cooking up a hot bran mash for her. But those things won’t be enough to do the trick. A lot of those cuts and welts are infected. She has a fever. Her right forefoot has an advanced case of thrush, and all three of her other feet are mildly infected as well. Considering the conditions she was kept in, I’d be amazed if she didn’t have a bad case of worms. I’ll have to give her a treatment for that, too. It won’t be easy on her body, but it’s got to be done. She doesn’t look good, Lisa. Not good at all.”
“Will she be all right now that she’s being treated?” Lisa asked.
“I’m not sure,” Judy said. “To tell you the truth, I almost think it might be kinder to put her down instead of letting her continue to suffer. She has a pretty slim chance of pulling through.”
Lisa gasped. An image of Sal flashed into her mind. This mare couldn’t meet the same fate—she just couldn’t. “No!” she exclaimed.
Judy put a hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “Believe me, I understand how you feel,” she said kindly. “But we have to be realistic. CARL has limited resources, and they have to use them on the animals that can be saved, not on those that can’t.”
Lisa glanced from Judy to the corral, where the mare was huddled against the far fence. The goats and sheep were milling around nearby. It didn’t seem like the perfect recovery room. Suddenly Lisa had a brainstorm.
“What if we moved the mare to Pine Hollow?” she blurted out. “Max would probably agree to lend her a stall, wouldn’t he? Maybe there she’d have a better chance of recovering. My friends and I could take care of her, and—”
“Hold on, Lisa,” Judy interrupted. “I know you girls are hard workers, but this mare is going to need constant care for the next few days if she’s even going to have a chance to pull through. I think she’ll be better off here at CARL, where she can be monitored twenty-four hours a day.”
Lisa was disappointed for a second. Then she realized what the vet had just said. “Does that mean you think she might pull through?” Lisa asked. “That she doesn’t have to be put to sleep?” She held her breath while she waited for Judy’s answer.
Judy watched the mare for a moment. Finally she spoke. “I guess we can wait and see how it goes. She deserves at least a chance to make it.”
Carole and Stevie joined them just in time to hear Judy’s words. “Of course she does,” Carole said. “And we’re going to see that she gets the best chance she can.”
Stevie nodded. “We just talked to Nicholas, that guy we spoke to on the phone,” she told Lisa, pointing across the yard at a thin man with wire-rimmed glasses. “He said they’d welcome our help with the mare while she’s here.”
“Great,” Lisa said. “Don’t worry, Judy. We’ll make you glad you didn’t decide to put her down.”
“What? Hold on a second. Who said anything about putting her down?” Stevie exclaimed.
“Relax, Stevie,” Judy said. “Lisa already talked me out of it. We’re not going to do anything drastic right now. But I want you to understand that this is a long shot. Only time will tell if she’s going to recover. And if the CARL folks and I think she’s suffering needlessly, we may have to put her down eventually, for her own sake.”
“She’ll recover,” Stevie said with certainty. “We’ll make sure she does. We can’t let the animal abusers win this time.”
“Not like with Sal,” Lisa added quietly.
“Well, sometimes a positive attitude is the best medicine,” Judy said with a shrug. “Come on, we’d better get started. You girls can help me clean out all those wounds, worm her, and pack her feet with thrush medication.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Carole said. “Just tell us what to do.”
For the next half hour The Saddle Club worked hard, directed by Judy and watched by the goats and sheep. They cleaned and dressed the mare’s wounds, brushed the worst of the dirt from her coat, and cleaned the infected feet so that Judy could pack the cavities with medicine.
Finally Judy stepped back and wiped her forehead with the back of one hand. “I think that’s about it for right now,” she said. “Good job, girls. Now all we can do is wait. If she makes it through the night, she just might have a fighting chance.”
“How’s it going out here?” asked Nicholas, appearing behind them with a large, steaming tub in his hands.
“Hard to say,” Judy replied honestly. “We’ve got her cleaned up as best we can. Is that the bran mash?”
“Sure is,” Nicholas replied. He set the tub down, then pulled a paper bag out of his pocket. Walking to the far side of the corral, he reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of what looked like corn kernels. He scattered the kernels inside the corral, and within seconds every goat and sheep in the place was greedily searching the ground for the tasty morsels.
Then he walked back to where Judy and girls were standing. “That should keep them busy for a few minutes,” he said. “And keep their noses out of the big girl’s food.” He picked up the tub and set it down carefully just inside the gate. The horse’s ears flicked in his direction and her nostrils flared. She shied away from Nicholas and let out a snort.
“Step back, everyone,” Judy ordered. “Give her some space.”
They moved around the outside of the corral so that the goats and sheep were between them and the mare. As Nicholas continued to toss handfuls of corn to distract the other animals, the horse cautiously sniffed at the aroma rising from the tub. Then, after much hesitation, she stepped forward, lowered her head to examine the tub’s contents more closely, and finally started to eat.
When the mare had finished every drop of mash in the tub, Nicholas reached in and removed it. The mare shied away from him, returning to her spot on the far side of the corral. “That should help her,” he commented with satisfaction.
Judy was more cautious. “At least she’s eating,” was all she would say.
Carole turned to Nicholas. “Have you heard anything about the owner?”
“I haven’t,” Nicholas said. “But maybe someone has. Let’s go find out.”
Judy nodded. “And I’d better find out who’ll be watching the mare overnight and give them some instructions.”
The group headed into the CARL building. While Judy went to the front desk to find out who would be on duty that night, the girls and Nicholas found Luanne in the dog room. She was brushing one of the inmates, a big, friendly mixed breed with long brown-and-white fur.
“How’s the mare?” Luanne asked after greeting them.
“Judy has done all she can for her,” Carole reported. “Now she says all we can do is wait and see.”
“Did the police catch the creep who owns her?” Stevie asked.
Luanne shook her head. “Sorry, sweetie. They didn’t. They waited around for an hour or so, then gave up and left a note. They’re going to check back at the farm later, but they’re afraid the owners might be out of town. If so, I just hope they left some food for that dog.”
“Me too,” Carole said. She was crazy about horses, but she loved other animals, too, and she hated to think that another creature might still be
suffering on that terrible farm.
“Don’t worry, they’ll track the owner down sooner or later,” Nicholas assured the girls, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.
“I hope it’s sooner,” Stevie said. She yawned. “Boy, am I tired. All that veterinary nursing is exhausting.” She glanced at her friends. “I think we’ve done all we can do here for now. What do you say we call my dad to come pick us up? It’s time to head back to my place and relax.”
“Sounds good to me,” Carole said.
Lisa shook her head. “You guys go ahead. I think I’ll stay here for a while. Judy might need my help.”
“But how will you get back to my house?” Stevie asked. “It’s too far for you to walk. Maybe we should all stay.”
“That’s okay,” Luanne put in. “I’m not leaving for another hour or so. If Lisa wants to stay, I can drop her off on my way home.”
“Thanks, Luanne,” Lisa said quickly, before her friends could protest any further. “That would be great. I’ll see you guys in an hour then, okay?”
“Well, okay,” Carole said. “If you’re sure you want to stay.”
“I’m sure,” Lisa said firmly.
WHEN CAROLE AND Stevie walked into the Lakes’ house with Stevie’s father, the first person they saw was Alex.
“Well, if it isn’t Romeo,” Stevie commented. “Where’s Juliet?”
Mr. Lake just smiled. “Take it easy, Stevie, okay?” he said. “By the way, you girls missed dinner. There’s leftover chicken in the fridge and pizza in the freezer. Just help yourselves.” With that, he disappeared upstairs.
“It’s funny you should mention Romeo and Juliet, Stevie,” Alex said with a smile. “Paige and I were just talking about it today in school. We might ask our teacher if we can act out one of the love scenes for our final English project next semester. We think we’d be perfectly cast as star-crossed lovers.”
“Star-crossed losers is more like it,” Stevie muttered.
Carole heard her, but she didn’t think Alex did. He was gazing into space, a dreamy look in his eyes and an even dreamier smile on his face. He was also humming quietly. It took Carole a moment to place the tune, but finally she recognized it as a popular song called “You’ve Stolen My Heart.”
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