Straight up ahead was another low tree branch, and this time, Jimena, since she was in the lead, called out to the herds, “Duck!” She bent low—and then screamed.
From where she was in the line, Abigail couldn’t see what had happened. But she could guess. Even a few horses back in the line, Abigail saw Jimena sway to the side in her saddle and struggle to sit straight up.
“Lucky,” Abigail said, pointing at Jimena. “I think she bumped her head on the tree branch.”
Then suddenly, Olivia, who was behind Jimena, screamed, “Snake!” She pointed to the tree branch but managed to avoid the branch and not hit her head.
The path was narrow, and the horses were bunched up, but as they heard the scream, they reared back, knocking into the horses behind them. Abigail was having a hard time controlling Boomerang, who was scared. There was nowhere to go. The rushing river was to the left and thick trees to the right. The path was tight with horses.
“Don’t let your horses bolt,” Pru warned the other Fillies. “Hold the reins tightly.”
“If the horses run into the water, they might get hurt. And the trees are too tightly woven together,” Lucky said. “Stay on the path.”
The horses began to settle at the back of the line, and Abigail breathed a sigh of relief. Things weren’t so dangerous if the horses stopped, but if one took off…
Jimena screamed as her horse spooked again and started running—under branches, over logs, down the path. Abigail could see Jimena clutching her forehead as she bounced in the saddle.
“This is not good!” she told Lucky and Pru.
Ms. Hungerford was at the back of the line of horses. Abigail heard her shout, “Oh dear!” but there wasn’t a lot she could do. She was too far away from Jimena and Duchess.
Abigail knew only three riders who were close enough to the front and fast enough to save the day.
She shouted, “PALs!”
Pru and Lucky replied, “We’re on it!” and the three of them moved their horses off the path and into the river.
They didn’t have to go far—just around the rest of the Golden Valley herd—then they’d get back on the path.
The water was rushing, but it was flowing downstream, so they didn’t have to fight the current.
Boomerang was a good swimmer, but Spirit was better. They fought their way toward the center of the river. Chica Linda held closer to the shoreline where the water was shallower.
Once back on the narrow path, the PALs spurred their horses to catch Jimena and Duchess.
“Duck!” Lucky was in front. She called out dangers so they would all avoid hitting their heads on branches.
“Log!” Lucky called again as Spirit jumped over a fallen tree. Boomerang and Chica Linda followed Spirit.
Under and over branches and logs they went, speeding to catch up with the runaway horse and its injured rider.
“Jimena!” Abigail called out as they got close. Here the path was wider and the horses could fit side by side. She could see a small cut on Jimena’s head. “Can you stop? Pull the reins?”
“I’ve been trying. Duchess is so scared from the snake, she won’t listen.”
Abigail was worried that Jimena looked pale and kept leaning back in her saddle. They had to get her off the speeding horse before she fell.
Abigail called to Lucky. “Can you grab Jimena?”
Lucky pulled Spirit to one side of Duchess, while Chica Linda edged onto the other side.
“On the count of three,” Lucky told Jimena, “I need you to jump from your horse to mine. I’ll catch you.”
Jimena looked doubtful.
“Okay, new plan,” Lucky said, not willing to risk it if Jimena didn’t want to leap off her horse.
“We’re coming to a big ditch up ahead,” Pru warned. “Does Duchess know how to jump?”
“No!” Jimena shook her head. “She’s new to the arena. I haven’t trained her for that yet. And she’s so scared, I don’t know what she’ll do!”
“Okay,” Lucky said. “I’m coming over.” In a flash, she leaped from Spirit onto Duchess’s back, settling behind Jimena in her saddle. “We’re going to let Duchess jump the ditch,” she told Jimena. Lucky wrapped her arms around Jimena to take the reins.
“I’m scared,” Jimena admitted.
Abigail and Boomerang went to the side of Duchess. Since the horse had never jumped like this before, Boomerang, Spirit, and Chica Linda were all going to show her how to cross the ditch.
The PALs made the count together. “One, two, three—” Boomerang went first, then Chica Linda. Duchess made a perfect landing, and Spirit followed them all across. The girls slowed, stopping just as Ms. Hungerford caught up.
“Oh, Jimena,” she said. “I was worried. Let me see your head….”
While Ms. Hungerford helped Jimena, Pru told Abigail, “We did a good job!”
“Yes, we did,” Abigail said. Then she leaned down to kiss Boomerang on the neck. “You did well, too.”
A few minutes later, all the herds gathered around. They were concerned about Jimena, worried about Duchess, and curious about what had happened back on the trail.
“A snake fell from the tree,” Olivia said. “Jimena saw it first and was so scared she forgot to duck. She hit her head on the tree branch, then the snake scared Duchess. I saw the snake, too, but I wasn’t scared. My horse is really brave.”
Abigail pressed her lips together and said nothing. There was one person she knew who really loved snakes. Could Snips have sabotaged their trail ride?
All the way back, Abigail, Pru, and Lucky rode in silence, and by the time they reached the campsite, Abigail was so sure that he’d dropped the snake, she was too mad to talk.
Diary Entry
Dear Diary,
Snips swears it wasn’t him.
I told him the prank was not funny. Funny is when a clown gets hit with a pie in the face or anything involving a rubber chicken…. This was not funny.
Snips promised that he and Señor Carrots had been busy making plans for something else, and that he was nowhere near the trail ride.
I asked for proof.
He refused to tell me what he had been up to.
I demanded he tell me.
He told me that Señor Carrots could prove he wasn’t there. I asked how. He said I had to ask Señor Carrots.
AUGH!
I’m supposed to ask a donkey where he was an hour ago? Donkeys have terrible memories!
I have to believe Snips for now. Thing is, I don’t think he’d hurt anyone on purpose. Fingers triple crossed I’m right.
I told Snips that he’d better not plan anything to do at tomorrow’s Saddle Showcase event.
It’s the big last-day celebration and the last chance to earn a badge. Right after the Showcase, all the herds will get to vote. He’d better not ruin that!
Snips just laughed and ran away.
For the Showcase, you can do anything you think of. And I mean anything!
You can slowly ride around the stage area a few times or do tricks or go crazy and put on a big show. Pru is doing the “go crazy” one. She’s got a routine where she and Chica Linda perform to music. Lucky is planning to do some tricks. And I’m going to show off Boomerang’s barrel-racing skills. And everyone in Miradero knows that Boomerang has some really amazing barrel skills. He rides around them fast, kinda as if his tail were on fire (which was true one time… but let’s not talk about that now).
Just as Ms. Hungerford told us to, I’ve laid out my complete uniform to wear in the morning and am super ready to go.
The Fillies wear: long pants, a crisp white shirt, a neckerchief, a leaf-shaped hat, and a sash with the badges sewn on. I saw some of the other herds sewing on their newly earned badges last night. I tried not to feel bad that the Miradero herd didn’t have a Majestic Mare badge to sew on, but I kind of feel as if it’s my fault that we didn’t get it.
Lucky and Pru are being really nice about everything. Pru says it was
Snips’s fault we didn’t get the Majestic Mare badge. Lucky said that we’re having a really good time, and that is what is important.
I’m so mad at Snips for ruining the day that my stomach feels as if there’s a rock inside.
He thinks he’s helping, but he’s not. I’d even give back my Boots and Bows badge and forget about the Saddle Showcase badge if we had a chance at the Hungerford Heart.
But I’m afraid we don’t.
It’s time to get ready,” Ms. Hungerford announced at the end of breakfast. It was a pajama breakfast, so no one was wearing her uniform yet. Abigail discovered, as she asked around, that the other girls had all done exactly the same as the PALs. Their uniforms were laid out and ready to wear. There was so much excitement in the air.
When it was time to go change and get ready, Abigail grabbed a couple of rolls and some juice for Snips, then found Pru and Lucky.
They walked to the tent area together. Their uniforms were where they’d left them, and they all began to get dressed.
This was the last day. After the show, there was lunch, then voting, and finally the announcement of the Hungerford Heart winner.
“We can’t mess up. This is our last chance to earn a badge—” Abigail was saying when suddenly, there was screaming from the other side of camp.
The PALs took off running toward the noise. Abigail’s uniform was untucked and her Fillies leaf hat flopped on her head. Lucky was half-dressed, and Pru was ready except for her hat.
“What’s going on?” Pru wondered. “That scream sounded terrible.”
They hurried past the campfire pit to Jimena’s tent, where all the herds had gathered.
“What’s up?” Abigail asked. She looked around. Everyone was still wearing pajamas. No one was in uniform. And Jimena was flushed with anger.
“Why did you do it?!” Jimena faced the PALs. She’d been so friendly lately, Abigail wasn’t sure what happened. “You’re the only ones who would’ve done it.”
“We’re like Boxcar Bonnie, solving a mystery,” Riley said.
Lucky gasped. “You read Boxcar Bonnie?”
“I do,” Riley said in an accusatory tone. “And I have this mystery all figured out!”
“We think you’re cheating to win the Hungerford Heart,” Olivia announced. “We know you want it.”
“I do,” Abigail admitted to her, “but it’s impossible to cheat to get it. The votes are secret and protected. Only Ms. Hungerford has the paper slips.”
“Even if there were a way, which there isn’t, we aren’t cheaters,” Pru insisted.
“We don’t know what’s even going on,” Lucky said, motioning at the other Fillies.
“Ha,” Olivia said. “That’s what cheaters say.” She pointed at the PALs, one at a time, and asked, “How come you are the only ones who have your uniforms, and the rest of us can’t find ours?”
“None of you?” Lucky asked, looking at all the herds. “No one has a uniform?”
“No,” Jimena confirmed. “And as you know”—she glared at Abigail—“we can’t get the badge if we aren’t dressed correctly.”
“I see….” Abigail took a deep breath.
Ms. Hungerford approached. “What’s this I hear about the Miradero herd cheating?” she asked, noticing that Miradero was mostly dressed in uniforms and the other girls were still in their pajamas.
“It makes perfect sense,” Jimena said. “They’ve been causing trouble since the moment they tried to take our camping space.”
“That was a misunderstanding,” Pru protested.
“Then there was the food fight,” Olivia said. “You started it, so you had to clean it up.”
“That’s not what happened—” Lucky started, but Sophie from the Copper Point herd jumped in.
“The targets were moving at the Boots and Bows,” Sophie said. “I saw it!”
“We’d hoped no one noticed that,” Abigail said with a grimace.
“So you admit they moved?” Ms. Hungerford asked. She was frowning.
“Yes. But it’s not what you think—” Pru began when another girl named Cassie cut in.
“And at the Majestic Mare event, their ribbons were the only ones that didn’t get ruined,” Cassie said.
“I know,” Abigail said, “but that wasn’t our fault. You see—”
Jimena touched the sore spot on her head and said, “I bet you put the snake in that tree.”
“How would we have done that?” Lucky was getting defensive. “None of this is our fault.” She reminded Jimena, “We were behind you. We saved you.”
“Yeah, but I think you spooked me and then saved me,” Jimena said.
“No. That doesn’t make any sense!” Abigail told Jimena. “Why would we do that?”
Jimena thought for a second, and then she said, “I know! You were going to prove that you deserve our Hungerford Heart.”
“It’s not yours.” Lucky stepped forward.
“See?” Jimena looked to Ms. Hungerford. “They want the Heart more than anything. So they took our uniforms.”
“What are you talking about?!” Pru countered. “We need your votes to get the Heart. If we messed things up, we’d never get the Heart.”
Abigail was sad, sadder than ever before. She said, “It’s all ruined. No one will vote for us now.” Her voice choked as she said, “The Jamboree is almost over and everything is so messed up.” She looked at all the other girls and said, “Do you want to know the truth?”
They all did.
Ms. Hungerford said, “Please explain, Abigail.”
She took another breath and barreled into the story. “My little brother, Snips, followed us here and has been messing up things all along. Lucky, Pru, and I—we’ve been trying to fix the messes he’s making!”
At first no one believed them, but Abigail, Pru, and Lucky took turns explaining how Snips started the food fight, moved the targets, and tangled up the ribbons and bows.
“Did he spook Duchess?” Jimena asked, touching her sore head.
“No, that was a snake,” Abigail said. “I’m, like, ninety-eight percent sure. Maybe ninety-seven, but no less than ninety-five percent sure it wasn’t his idea.”
Once they’d finally come clean with it all, Ms. Hungerford asked, “Where is your brother now?”
“I don’t know.” Abigail shrugged. “But when we find him, I’m guessing that we’ll find your uniforms, too.” She felt as if she had to add, “He isn’t all bad. Snips thought he was helping us.”
“It was wrong not to tell me your brother was here all along,” Ms. Hungerford said. “Abigail, you should have been honest at the Jamboree’s start and not now, at the end.”
Abigail frowned. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Lucky and Pru apologized, too.
A small voice came from the top of a nearby tree. “I’m sorry, too,” the voice said.
Then from high in the tree, Frontier Fillies uniforms began to fall to the ground like rain.
Diary Entry
Dear Diary,
Snips climbed down from the tree and apologized for all the trouble he’d caused. He’d been listening to Jimena and the others get mad at Pru, Lucky, and me and felt bad. Well, bad in a Snips way. He was like, “Sorry, but if you’d done it my way, you’d have three badges and the Hungerford Heart, too. But since you won’t listen to your smartest brother, I guess I apologize for you not listening.”
So, it wasn’t exactly an apology, but I’ll take it.
Ms. Hungerford was mad and yet pretty nice about it all, too. She said she was glad that we finally told her what was going on, but she repeated that we should have said something earlier. She’d have found an escort to take Snips home. It didn’t have to be me. I guess I should have thought that maybe she knew people in the nearby town, but I didn’t really think of asking for help. I just assumed I could handle my brother. I should have known better.
When I told her that I had been trying (with Pru and Lucky) to get him to stay invi
sible the whole time, Ms. Hungerford said the most shocking thing ever.
She said, “Since you’ve been cleaning up his messes all along, you should be the ones to clean up this last mess, too.” Then she told everyone that the Miradero herd was going to determine what to do with Snips!
Us? We’re kids! But she said that we’d shown “resourcefulness in countering his sabotage,” so we should finish it all up.
She also said that, as our punishment, we couldn’t participate in the Saddle Showdown.
My friends were great about it. Since we couldn’t ride and would never get the badge (or the Heart), I suggested that we go back to Miradero early. We probably should have left last time when they convinced me to stay. Pru and Lucky said they wanted to stick around and cheer on our new friends (even if they still might be a little mad at us). Yeah, they convinced me again.
I’ve been thinking about what Ms. Hungerford said about us having to figure out what to do with Snips, and I have an idea. If we stay, then Snips stays. I think I have a way to lock him in the tent, where he should have been the whole time.
To make sure he stays put, we’ll move our tent near the Showcase, where Lucky and Pru and I can guard Snips and watch our friends do the show at the same time. Señor Carrots can watch the show with us since he’s really an innocent donkey in Snips’s trickery. After Ms. Hungerford officially gives Golden Valley the Hungerford Heart (again), we can pack up to go home.
Snips can’t ruin anything else for us because from here on, he will be invisible!
PS: If I could add one thing to my plan, I’d invite Mary Pat and Bianca to stay in the tent with him. Ha.
The herds gave amazing performances.
Jimena and Golden Valley played Simon Says, with the other horses imitating what Jimena and Duchess did. It was really funny.
The Battersea herd rolled giant hoops while riding their horses.
Sophie stood on her horse’s back and read poetry.
Cassie’s horse took a bow after catching carrots in the air. (Boomerang would have been good at that one, too.)
When it was all over, everyone gathered for their badges.
Spirit Riding Free: Abigail's Diary Page 5
