As they drove into the school grounds two things surprised Abbey. First of all, the front paddock was full of Hereford cattle and calves, and secondly, every girl in the school seemed to be down at the stables waiting for them.
Pepper and Bedazzled looked out happily over their half doors. Pudding was too short to be seen over his, but by the smiles on Milly’s and Clare’s faces as they stood in front of his stall, Abbey knew he was okay and probably eating!
As the girls and Drover climbed out of the car everyone cheered and clapped. They made their way straight to their horses to give them a huge hug.
A second car pulled up behind them and Mr Vickery and his son and daughter got out. They looked as relieved to see the girls as their classmates had. Suddenly Abbey realised that she recognised these cattle. They were the ones they’d worked with only days before.
After the girls had showered and eaten some dinner, Ms Sterling asked them to visit her office to talk about what had happened.
‘Well, Abbey,’ she said after she had heard the whole story, ‘it sounds like you acted cleverly and bravely in what must have been a terrifying situation. Well done, and well done to all of you for working so well as a team.’
‘It was actually Drover’s idea to get through the fence,’ smiled Abbey. She couldn’t believe that they hadn’t even thought about trying to phone someone for help after the stampede had passed, but it all happened so quickly.
‘Why did the cattle stampede like that?’ said Talika, still obviously quite shaken up. ‘And why were they even on the road?’
‘Well, that’s the troubling part,’ said Ms Sterling. ‘Nobody knows. And when the Vickerys checked over the cattle, they realised that two cows and their calves are missing. Now, it could be that they’ve somehow been separated from the herd in the commotion, but we don’t really know. The Vickerys have headed out tonight to try to find them. I’ve spoken to all of your parents, but I know you’ll be keen to call them yourselves. We can talk more about it in the morning when hopefully we’ll know more.’
The girls headed back to their room to call their parents. Abbey thought she was okay about it all, but she got quite upset when she talked to her mum. She was already missing her family so much, and this whole thing had just made it worse. She spoke to her dad next.
‘You were the star of our lesson the other day, Dad,’ she said, glad to hear his voice on the phone. ‘Mr Vickery said you’re very well respected in the cattle industry.’
Her father laughed, but Abbey could hear from his voice that he felt proud. Abbey had to tell him the whole story about the stampede again. He said how much he admired the way she’d been so quick-thinking in what would have been a very dangerous situation.
‘They’ve noticed two of the cows and their calves are missing,’ said Abbey, ‘but they don’t know if they’ve just wandered away from the herd.’
‘Did you say two cows and two calves missing?’ said her father.
‘Yes.’
‘Well, that’s odd,’ he said. ‘Harry Dean from Ballandean Stud had two prize cows and their calves stolen without a single trace last month. They can’t even be sure exactly what date they went missing.’
When the girls had finished speaking to their parents on the phone, Miss Beckett invited them down for a hot chocolate. ‘I’ve got a little surprise for you,’ she said
Instead of going to the common area where they usually had hot chocolate with all the other girls, Miss Beckett led them off to a vacant room at the end of the hall. When they opened the door, Milly and Clare were sitting on the bed with big smiles on their faces.
Milly had Bitsy’s bottle and the cheeky little piglet was guzzling it down.
Miss Beckett beamed with pride. ‘Dr Brown is coming back to look at her tomorrow. I think she’ll be very impressed with her progress.’
‘I can’t believe we forgot all about you in the commotion, Bitsy,’ said Abbey, reaching down to tickle the tiny piglet.
‘You’re going to catch up to your sisters and brothers in no time,’ laughed Hannah, as the milk quickly disappeared.
The next morning was Saturday and the girls woke to the sound of restless cattle. Hannah jumped up and looked out the window.
‘It looks like they’re moving the cattle back to the Vickery Stud this morning.’
Abbey sat up and pushed the hair out of her eyes. ‘I want to go down and tell Mr Vickery and Mr McPhail about what Dad said last night.’
The girls threw on their weekend clothes and ran down to the stables. Mr McPhail and the Vickerys were talking but turned to greet the girls when they saw them coming.
‘I hope you girls are all right now,’ said Robert Vickery. ‘That must have been a heck of a scare.’
The girls all nodded in unison.
‘Your teacher tells us there was a bit of quick thinking going on there,’ said Jessica. ‘Not only did climbing the fence keep you safe, but your horses had a much better chance without you on their backs. And, because they were running out in front, our cattle luckily followed them right on in here.’
‘You may have saved our cattle from running straight onto the highway and causing all manner of chaos,’ said Mr Vickery. ‘Did you call your folks and tell them all about your adventure?’
‘We did,’ said Abbey, nodding, ‘and that’s why we wanted to talk to you, sir. Did you find the missing cows and calves?’
Mr Vickery’s whole expression changed. ‘No, and we actually believe they’ve been stolen. We found where someone has cut the fence and backed their truck in. That’s how the cattle got out on the road in the first place. Then something has no doubt spooked them and caused them to run in a crazy panic.’
‘My dad said that two cows and two calves were stolen from a stud called Ballandean last month. Their fence was cut too, and they still have no idea where they are.’
‘What on earth?’ said Jessica. ‘Do you think this is some sort of cattle-duffing ring, Dad?’
Mr Vickery looked really angry.
Robert turned to his father. ‘Harry Dean has got a good line of Herefords running there. I don’t like the sound of this at all. I bet someone is stealing prize cattle to make a quick buck.’
Talika spoke up. ‘But what would be the point of stealing cattle if they have those things in their stomachs? You know, the tracking system you told us about. Didn’t you say they can’t be removed?’
‘The calves don’t have them yet, because they aren’t old enough,’ said Abbey. ‘They could take the NLIS tags out of the calves’ ears to sell them though, couldn’t they?’
‘So the mothers can’t be sold because of the rumen bolus in their stomachs,’ said Mr Vickery, thinking aloud. ‘If people don’t know the blood-lines of the calves, they wouldn’t be worth much at a sale, especially as poddy calves, not yet weaned. Maybe they have no intention of selling them at all. Maybe someone’s setting up a herd of really good calves for the future, and will do away with the mothers when the calves are weaned.’
A cow mooed loudly from the paddock behind them.
‘Well, it sounds like a matter for the police,’ said Robert. ‘We’d better start moving these cattle before they eat all your grass. We’ll have to take them back the way they came.’
‘Hopefully a bit more slowly though!’ laughed Talika, nervously.
There was a huge buzz of excitement over breakfast. Mr McPhail had asked if the Vet Cadet girls with horses could help muster the cattle back to Sandown, and the Vickerys were very happy for the help. The owners were going to lead the way up the front to stop the cattle from getting too far ahead, then Mr McPhail and the girls would follow slowly behind.
Abbey noticed that Talika was very quiet.
‘Are you okay, Tali?’ she said.
‘I’m just worried that Pudding will get frightened being around the cattle again,’ she said.
‘I’m scared too,’ admitted Hannah, ‘but I guess, for both the horses and us, it’s better to be around the
m sooner rather than later. Mr McPhail will ride with us, and we’ll be behind the herd, of course. There’s no way in a million years I would choose to be in front of one again!’
‘Why don’t we go down and saddle up, and see how they go? If the horses are too stirred up, we don’t have to go,’ said Abbey.
The other girls agreed and once they had made their beds and cleaned their teeth, they went to see Miss Beckett about what to do with Bitsy.
‘Clare and Milly are not interested in going on the muster, so they’re happy to look after her while you girls ride,’ she said. ‘But while you’re here, Bitsy would like to show you something.’ The girls sat on the ground around a little rug, and Miss Beckett gently unwrapped Bitsy and placed her on the floor.
‘Look!’ whispered Talika. ‘She is standing up!’
Bitsy’s little hooves were planted firmly on the rug and her tiny wobbly legs held her weight. As if very proud of herself, she made a happy little grunt and twitched her tail. They all gave her tiny claps with their fingers so that they didn’t scare her.
‘Dr Brown is coming around lunchtime for Bitsy’s check-up,’ said Miss Beckett. ‘Milly and Clare will take her down.’
The girls thanked the house supervisor and raced down to the stables to join the others already saddling up.
‘Hang on,’ said Hannah, as she reached Bedazzled’s stall. ‘Our gear was trampled, remember?’
‘Oh, no! I totally forgot,’ said Abbey, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice.
Mr McPhail appeared, carrying a bucket of slops for Henrietta and Boris.
‘Girls,’ he said when he saw them, ‘I collected your gear last night. I’ve done my best to repair what I can and you can borrow anything you need from the school’s supply. The good news is, when the Vickerys saw the mess your gear was in, they offered to replace anything we can’t fully repair.’
‘That’s great,’ said Abbey. ‘Thanks, Mr McPhail.’ Then she walked over to her saddle, which was sitting on the rail, and laughed. ‘On second thoughts,’ she said with a grin on her face, ‘I think I like this huge hoof print on the seat of my saddle!’
When the gates were opened and the herd was moved out, Abbey wouldn’t have guessed it was the same terrifying group as yesterday. They plodded along peacefully as they were steered up the road towards Sandown. The girls happily followed behind. Thankfully, none of the horses seemed the least bit frightened today.
Talika gave Pudding a hug around his neck as he clip-clopped along. ‘I don’t think I could ever have believed that your little legs could run so fast, Pud. You were very brave. You must be so tired today.’
Within an hour the herd had passed the place where the fence had been cut.
‘Can we stop and look more closely on the way back?’ said Talika.
‘Sure,’ said Mr McPhail. ‘They’re going to put the cattle in at the next gate, then we’ll turn back.’
Once the cattle was safely herded into the paddock, the Vickerys thanked the Vet Cadets for their help and the group turned to head home. As Mr McPhail had promised, they stopped when they reached the hole in the fence. The girls were allowed to tie up their horses and look at the damage. Abbey could see where the fence had been cut, and someone had even unbolted the top rail and thrown it into the grass.
‘I wonder how the thieves caught the cattle in the first place?’ said Abbey. ‘It doesn’t make sense. When we’re out mustering in the open paddocks back home, it’s pretty hard to cut a cow and calf from a herd in an open paddock, let alone do it twice. Even if you’re lucky enough to be able to get one pair, the others would all run off.’
‘And look at these deep tracks in the mud,’ said Talika. ‘They must have had a pretty big truck. These wheel tracks are really wide.’ She took her phone out and photographed the tracks.
‘What are you doing that for?’ laughed Hannah. ‘Are you going to solve the case?’
‘I just think it is an interesting pattern,’ shrugged Talika. ‘Look at the diamond shapes in the tyres. I’ve never seen that on tyres before.’
Hannah looked more closely. ‘You’re so observant, Talika. I don’t think I’ve ever looked at the pattern a tyre makes before.’
‘I’ve always been really into patterns and notice them,’ said Talika. She continued to walk along the tyre tracks, taking more photos.
‘Look here,’ said Mr McPhail, as the girls gathered around an area a bit further away. ‘See that rectangular impression in the ground? I think they’ve brought mobile yards with them – the fences that you can put up and take down really quickly. Can you all search to see if you can find more rectangles? That will give us an idea of how big the yards were.’
‘Here’s one,’ Daisy said excitedly, pointing at the ground a few metres away.
‘And another here!’ said Bonnie.
‘And here!’ said Jasmine.
‘Girls, if you find a mark, stand on it,’ said Mr McPhail.
The girls scattered around on a most unusual treasure hunt, until they stood in a very large circle. A few girls stood on marks that formed a long thin rectangle coming off one edge.
‘That must be where they had the loading ramp,’ said Mr McPhail, loudly enough for the girls to hear. Talika asked them all to stay still while she took some more photos. Then they gathered around their teacher again.
‘This is no one-man operation,’ said Mr McPhail very seriously. ‘They would have needed a very big truck to transport yards this large, as well as being able to fit the cattle in. There were probably quite a few people involved, firstly to assemble the yards, then to herd the cattle in.’
‘There are horseshoe prints here,’ said Hannah, pointing to a bare spot with the unmistakable U shape. ‘Unless they’re from the Vickerys’ horses, the thieves must have brought horses with them too.’
‘They’d probably needed them to round up the cattle into the yards in the first place,’ said Abbey.
‘I wonder if the police have figured all this out,’ said Talika, still taking photos.
‘It would be worth letting the Vickerys know, either way,’ said Mr McPhail.
On the ride back to school, Abbey broached the subject of using Drover as part of their act in the talent quest.
‘You’d have to get permission from Ms Sterling,’ said Mr McPhail, sounding hesitant. ‘She hasn’t been too keen to invite Drover into the school grounds after he attacked that sheep.’
‘Maybe if we can show her how well trained he is, she might realise he’s changed, now that he’s not starving and mistreated,’ said Hannah.
‘I guess it’s worth a try,’ said Mr McPhail. ‘I could really use a good dog to help me with the school’s sheep.’
‘Can he do any tricks other than begging and jumping?’ asked Talika as she trotted Pudding alongside.
Abbey smiled as Talika’s chubby pony jogged to keep up with the bigger horses.
‘Drover’s getting pretty good at rolling over and fetching,’ said Mr McPhail.
‘We could use those skills in our act for sure,’ said Hannah.
‘We promise we’ll do all the training down near the stables, Ms Sterling,’ pleaded Abbey.
The principal was not going to make this easy. She had made time to speak to the girls before school on Monday about their idea and the three of them now sat nervously in chairs in front of her desk.
‘I’m actually surprised you girls want to have anything to do with that dog at all,’ she said. ‘It was your sheep that he attacked, wasn’t it, Abbey?’
Abbey nodded, remembering how dreadful Poppet’s injuries were.
‘He was very young and he’d been cruelly starved,’ said Hannah. ‘Mr McPhail has been training Drover himself and he says the dog has become very obedient.’
‘But is he obedient around sheep and children?’ said Ms Sterling.
‘He’s not the least bit aggressive towards us,’ said Talika. ‘He politely begs for food now. I even have a photo!’ Talika sho
wed Ms Sterling the cute photo of Drover begging behind Abbey with a biscuit halfway to her lips. Even Ms Sterling had to smile at it.
There was a long pause. Abbey could see Hannah had her fingers crossed in her lap.
‘I tell you what,’ said Ms Sterling, ‘I’ll consider this on a few conditions.’
The girls all nodded in unison.
‘Firstly, you call your parents and ask their permission. And secondly, I would like to speak to Mr McPhail about it myself and see the dog follow his instructions while in the school grounds. Only then will you be allowed to train the dog, and only down near the stables, not up near the dormitories or anywhere else.’
‘Thank you, Ms Sterling,’ said all three girls over the top of each other, wide grins on their faces.
‘Drover won’t let you down, we promise,’ said Abbey. ‘You can even come and watch his act on the night of the talent quest, if you like!’
‘Call your parents,’ said the principal, but she gave the excited girls a warm smile.
They raced off to visit Bitsy and tell Miss Beckett their plan for the talent quest.
‘That sounds like a wonderful idea,’ said Miss Beckett. ‘I’m sure Mr McPhail will be very glad if Drover’s allowed on the school grounds. He was telling me just the other day that he’d like to use the dog on his rounds.’
‘Where’s Bitsy now?’ said Hannah.
‘Milly and Clare have taken her down to the stables for another check-up. Dr Brown should be there soon. I can’t believe the change in those girls since they started to care for Bitsy. They hardly even seem homesick now.’
‘That’s great news,’ said Abbey.
‘I have to get ready for hockey practice,’ said Hannah. ‘The semifinals are coming up and Mr Jenkins wants us to get in some extra goal-shooting practice before our game next week.’
‘We’ll see you at lunch then,’ said Talika, as Hannah headed off.
Talika and Abbey jogged down to the stables, just as Dr Brown’s four-wheel drive pulled up.
Saving Itsy Bitsy Page 4
