Charlie kept Pirate tucked in just behind Scout, following his every hoof print in the soft ground. Alice swallowed hard as she popped Scout into a steady canter. His ears were pricked and it was clear that he remembered Dragonfly Marsh from his time being turned out on there the summer before, confident in his footing as he dodged through the tall reeds. Alice let his pace increase, calling over her shoulder to check that Charlie was okay. Charlie shouted out that she was fine. Like Alice, she was hovering out of the saddle, holding a handful of mane so that Pirate had his head to help him balance. Charlie stretched out her fingers on one hand and scratched his withers, watching his ears flicker briefly before he turned his attention back to the narrow path ahead, ignoring the mud spatters thrown up by Scout’s hooves.
All the time they cantered fast, whipping between the reeds, Alice kept one eye over to the left on the little cloud of dust, watching Mrs Valentine’s slow progress along the higher track around the edge of the boggy marsh. Every now and again she disappeared from view as the ground dipped down so that all Alice could see were the tall, dry reeds like a wall on either side of her. She trusted completely in the sure-footed Scout and she half closed her eyes, raising her arm every now and again to brush aside the reeds if they blew too close. It was just after she’d opened her eyes again that she heard a squeal behind her.
She turned quickly, just in time to see that Pirate had stumbled. Charlie had tipped forward and was clinging onto his neck, hanging precariously to the side. Alice sat back in her saddle.
“Whoa, steady Scout,” she called as she squeezed on his reins.
He came back to a bouncy canter, then to a trot. Alice glanced round just as Charlie slipped to the ground. She landed on her feet in a boggy puddle with a splosh. Pirate jogged to Scout, barging into his rump. Alice was terrified that he was going to scrape past and go flying off across the marsh, not knowing where he was headed, and with stirrups and reins flying everywhere. She swiftly leaned across and grabbed his reins, but she realised as Charlie ran up to him that he was sticking by Scout and not going anywhere.
“Are you okay?” Alice asked as she watched Charlie flip her offside stirrup back over the saddle. Charlie nodded, smiling ruefully.
“I was so busy watching the dust cloud that I forgot to look where I was going,” she said, jumping back into the saddle.
“The track’s starting to curve back towards us,” Alice noticed as Charlie got her stirrups and they set off again at a fast trot, “and that must mean that we’re nearly at the other side. I just hope we find a gate to the lane quickly!”
The ponies picked up canter again and they threaded their way through the reeds, ducking left and right, and keeping to the raised path until the reeds started to thin out. The dust cloud was getting nearer, and they could hear the car engine with the clatter of the trailer rattling behind it. Alice noticed some fencing just ahead as the car drew level with them. She bobbed down low in the saddle, taking cover in what reeds were left around them as Scout fell back to trot. The car drove past. It picked up speed as it left the bumpy track and reached a smooth-surfaced lane. Alice looked around wildly.
“There isn’t a gate!” she panicked. “How are we meant to follow her?!”
Charlie looked ahead, keeping her eyes fixed on the trailer bumping off into the distance. She watched helplessly as it indicated left, then turned between a break in the hedge and disappeared out of sight. Her shoulders slumped.
“We can’t lose her now, not after all this,” Alice groaned, her legs aching from standing in the stirrups for so long. She could tell that after their epic ride Scout was starting to feel tired beneath her too.
Suddenly she heard the engine stop. Not like it was going out of earshot but as if it had been switched off. Without hesitating, she flung herself out of the saddle. Charlie grabbed Scout’s reins, caught by surprise, as Alice clambered over the wooden fence and started to sprint up the lane, making for the gap in the hedge.
Her legs were like lead and it felt as if she was treading water, but the thought of catching Mrs Valentine spurred her on. She slowed gratefully at the edge of the gap. Before ducking round it, she parted the hedge. There stood the sleek Range Rover and the trailer, parked right next to a huge, ultra-smart caravan that was tucked away to the side out of sight. At that second, she looked across and caught a glimpse of someone stepping into the caravan. Suddenly, her phone vibrated. Glad she’d remembered to switch it to silent, she quickly grabbed it and answered it with shaking breath.
“What’s happening?” Charlie whispered.
“I’ve found the trailer and I just saw someone heading into a caravan!” Alice whispered back.
“Someone? You mean Mrs Valentine, right?” Charlie asked, lying along Pirate’s neck, craning to see.
“Well, I only saw their leg, so I can’t be a hundred per cent sure,” Alice replied hesitantly. “I’ll have to get a bit closer.”
Alice tiptoed around the hedge and up the rubble drive. She crept past the empty trailer and the Range Rover, her heart thumping as the rubble crunched beneath each step. She looked up and saw someone appear for a second at the window of the caravan. Alice ducked behind the trailer as the woman inside peered out then drew the curtain. As the lights inside the caravan flickered on, Alice frowned, confused suddenly – something didn’t add up.
She was hiding behind the same trailer that had dropped off the pony which Mrs Valentine had bought, the trailer they’d followed from the other side of the marsh. But the person she’d seen in the window of the caravan was not Mrs Valentine. This woman’s hair was definitely not long and blonde.
“But we saw the trailer come in here,” Alice said quietly to herself, “the same trailer that dropped off the dun pony. It has to be the right one, so where is Mrs Valentine?”
Alice crept forward. She needed to try to get another peek inside the caravan – she needed to work out what was going on. As she edged past the Range Rover, something inside caught her eye. There, lying on the passenger seat were a pair of large, dark sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, and a long blonde wig.
Alice felt her heart skip a beat. Suddenly, the last thing she wanted to do was go up and confront the woman in the caravan. What she really wanted to do was turn tail and run, but instead she reached for her phone with shaking fingers. She opened up the camera and quickly took a couple of shots of the hat and wig, knowing that’s what Mia would do, before flying back up the lane.
“What happened?” Charlie whispered as Alice raced towards her. “Did you speak to Mrs Valentine?”
Alice hastily climbed the fence. She grabbed her reins then swung lightly back into the saddle.
“That’s not Mrs Valentine!” she whispered, puffing.
“What do you mean?” Charlie asked, looking surprised. “That was the same trailer we know dropped off the dun pony – it has to be her!”
Alice shook her head, almost too excited and nervous at her discovery to talk.
“No, I mean, I think it is Mrs Valentine, at least, the person who’s been pretending to be Mrs Valentine,” Alice said, almost getting more muddled as she tried to make sense of it, “but that’s just a disguise! She’s been wearing a wig, glasses and a hat all along, since the first time I met her last year! Anyway, look, we can’t hang around here – we have to go!”
The girls quickly turned their ponies then disappeared back into the long marsh grasses.
“So who is she?” Charlie asked impatiently, once they were safely hidden from the lane.
“Well, under the wig she’s got short, black hair,” Alice revealed, letting Scout’s reins go loose. “I can’t be a hundred per cent definite before I check the photo in the newspaper, but I’m pretty sure I know who it is.”
“I don’t believe it!” Charlie said, slapping her mud-splattered hat as she worked it out.
Alice nodded.
“Mrs Hawk!”
AFTER walking Scout and Pirate back across the seemingly endless marsh, t
hey finally reached the fencing at the other side. Charlie had called ahead to update Rosie and Mia, who were still waiting on the path by the gate. They’d taken Dancer’s and Wish’s saddles off and let their ponies graze the other side of the fence from the nervy dun pony. When Alice and Charlie finally rode into sight, Mia held the gate open for them, being careful not to let the dun pony out. They felt terrible leaving him behind, but they hoped that he wouldn’t now be alone on Dragonfly Marsh for long. As the four rode back to Blackberry Farm, Alice and Charlie filled Mia and Rosie in properly. As soon as they’d reached the yard and untacked, Rosie rushed to get the old newspaper article.
“It was definitely Mrs Hawk!” Alice cried, studying it closely. “The woman in the caravan was the spitting image of the woman in the picture here!”
“One thing’s for sure, the name Hawk suits her way better than ‘Valentine’ ever did!” Rosie puffed.
“And no wonder her hair always looked like straw,” Mia said critically. “That wig was not great quality.”
“That’s hardly the most important fact right now,” Charlie commented as they all walked over to the barn with their nets, stuffing them full of sweet-smelling, soft hay before carrying them back to the yard for the ponies to eat while the girls groomed them.
“No,” Mia agreed. “The most important fact is that Mrs Hawk has been banned from keeping ponies, but she’s found what she thought was a sneaky way round it.”
“And I bet that’s why she moved Scout to Dragonfly Marsh after her moonlight flit from Hollow Hill!” Alice burst out. “He was the first pony Jock noticed marshy hooves on, so that’s when she must have switched from being Mrs Hawk to being Mrs Valentine.”
“Exactly!” Charlie said as she heaved on the haynet to pull it as high as it could go before tying it up to the baler twine on the ring outside Pirate’s stable. He tucked in greedily, hungry after the long ride. “The marsh is so big, the ponies could almost get lost out there. It’s the perfect place to hide ponies you’ve been banned from owning!”
“And as well as hiding her ponies on the marsh,” Rosie continued, “she moved away from her cottage at Hollow Hill, changed her name and her appearance…”
“… and carried on buying ponies with Roger Green’s help,” Charlie said crossly. “Only since her ban she put them out on loan rather than keeping them on Hollow Common.”
“And it meant she could keep the fact that she still owned ponies a secret,” Alice sighed, giving Scout lots of mints. “After all, anyone coming to try the ponies would have to try the pony at the loan home, rather than at Mrs Hawk’s.”
She turned on the yard tap and sluiced buckets of warm water over his neck, back and legs, rinsing off all the mud and dried, crinkled sweat before splashing her own face and drying it on her T-shirt. Charlie did the same. Mia watched in horror as Charlie left long mud streaks smeared across her T-shirt without a care.
“Clever, really,” Rosie said, giving Dancer a hug, “but not clever enough to fool the Pony Detectives.”
“So what do we do now?” Alice asked.
“There’s a number for the RSPCA on the article,” Mia said, picking up the cutting once more as Wish shook her head then rubbed the side of her nose against an outstretched foreleg.
Mia took her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number, checking it against the paper. She was put on hold, and paced up and down the yard until she was put through to someone and could explain their discovery: that the banned Mrs Hawk still owned ponies, even though they were out on loan. She also mentioned that Mrs Hawk had just bought a dun pony who’d been turned out on Dragonfly Marsh all alone.
“You’ll come out? Brilliant!” Mia said excitedly. Then her face dropped. “Oh, is that the soonest you can make it? It’s just that Mrs Val—I mean, Mrs Hawk’s due to come here tomorrow at three o’clock. She’s planning to sell on one of the ponies she’s not even meant to own, and she might be gone by the time you get here…”
Mia gave the address for Blackberry Farm before ending the call.
“So?” Alice asked, her stomach in a tight knot.
“The earliest they think they’ll be able to make it is four tomorrow,” Mia explained, taking a deep breath, “but they’ve said that they’ll definitely try to make it earlier, especially as it would mean finally catching up with Mrs Hawk.”
“But Tallulah’s dad’s due at three o’clock – Scout will be sold by then!” Alice gasped. It felt as if, however hard they tried, Scout’s safety was always an infuriating step away.
“We’ll just have to try to keep Mrs Hawk here until they come,” Charlie said, frowning.
“Or we could put a back-up plan into action to stop Tallulah buying Scout. Me and Rosie came up with one while we were waiting for you two this afternoon,” Mia said quickly, “just in case you lost Mrs Hawk across the marsh. It’s all set up – we just need Tallulah to appear today like she said she would and then I’ll send one text…”
At that moment they heard a car on the bumpy drive, then footsteps. A second later Tallulah was bouncing into the yard, all smug smiles and superiority until she saw Scout, his pink skin showing through his silky wet coat.
“What are you doing to my pony?” she squealed as Scout shook himself, his hooves scraping slightly on the concrete. She rushed back, wiping the water off her smart top as if it was infected.
“Er, washing him down?” Alice said, wondering how she’d have reacted if she’d been on the yard five minutes earlier when Scout had been covered in mud. She glanced across to Mia and Rosie who were both looking as smug as Tallulah. They hadn’t had time to explain the plan to her or Charlie, so she’d just have to trust them, she thought, as she noticed Mia fiddling with the mobile phone in her pocket. “Anyway, he’s not your pony yet.”
Tallulah shrugged her shoulders.
“As good as. As it goes, I don’t mind if you’re washing him. It’ll just make him look even better for the show on Saturday.”
At that moment, Mia’s mobile phone started to ring. She answered it after the first ring, putting it on speaker phone.
“Mia?” The voice at the other end rang out. “It’s Poppy!”
Mia smiled, watching out of the corner of her eye as Tallulah suddenly perked up and shamelessly listened in.
“Listen,” Poppy continued. “I know that Scout’s as good as sold, but I just really wanted to jump him before it all goes through. It might be my last chance and I’d love to find out what feel he gives me over a fence and how he compares to Moonlight.”
“Of course – I know Alice won’t mind!” Mia replied, smiling to herself as Rosie nudged Alice in the ribs and Alice called out that she didn’t mind in the slightest. “How about ten o’clock tomorrow morning? I’ll get some jumps set up for you.”
“Great,” Poppy said. “Make sure they’re big ones, won’t you?”
“Will do,” Mia said, before they said their goodbyes.
“What is Poppy Brookes doing calling you about my pony?” Tallulah asked indignantly.
“I guess she just wants to find out what she’s missed out on,” Rosie replied. “She was really impressed with his performance in the Eventers Grand Prix last weekend.”
“I knew I’d made the right decision about buying Shooting Starr. It’s so brilliant that I’ve bought him and she hasn’t!” Tallulah squealed excitedly. “She’ll be so jealous after she rides him tomorrow and realises that even Moonlight’s no match for him! What time did you say she’s coming down tomorrow? Ten?”
Mia nodded, and Tallulah marched out of the yard looking more smug than ever. As they heard a car door slam shut and Tallulah whizzed up the lane with her mum, Mia and Rosie quickly brought Charlie and Alice up to speed. The four girls collapsed into giggles. Their plan was in place. Now they just needed it to work.
“ALL set?” Poppy smiled as she tightened Scout’s girth. She’d mounted him in the little yard where Moonlight was safely housed in the spare stable and pressed him forwar
d into a walk as she lowered her leg and the saddle flap. Alice walked by Scout’s head with Mia on the other side. Charlie and Rosie were already in the schooling paddock, dragging the ancient, peeling showjumping poles, with their scraps of red, blue and green paint, across the dusty ring.
Mia nodded as they headed down past the turn-out paddock, into the shade of the tall, overhanging trees and then in through the squeaky metal gate to the schooling area.
Scout strode out keenly into the ring, his ears pricked as he looked around. Alice could see that he was happy with Poppy on his back, like a completely different pony compared to when Tallulah had been in the saddle.
Mia sat on a barrel laid on its side next to Alice, while Rosie and Charlie took up position next to them. Suddenly, there was a flurry of straightened hair, glittery eyeshadow and brightly coloured T-shirt and jodhpurs.
“Hi guys!” Tallulah said, walking fast over to the ring. “Mum was going to come and watch today too, only she’s making important calls in the car right now. She’s getting the money sorted for the handover with Mrs Valentine this afternoon. I told her I want this sale to go smoothly. Oh, hi, Poppy! I see you’re up on my new superstar! Doesn’t he feel gorgeous?!”
“Feels okay so far. I’ll warm him up first.” Poppy smiled as she moved Scout into a trot after walking him on a long rein to loosen him up. “Then I’ll let you know once I’ve popped him over some big fences.”
Poppy winked quickly at Alice as she rode past. Alice held her hand up to her mouth to hide her smile. She knew that Poppy had no intention of getting to the point of jumping any big fences on Scout. Their plan would be well finished before it got to that stage.
Alice watched as Poppy had Scout moving brilliantly. But every now and again, just as he was going well, she’d half-halt him, then tip forward.
Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies Page 8
