Horse Tale (5 page)

“I
T
’
S SHOW TIME
,” Christine whispered.

“Are you nervous?” Lisa whispered back. “I am!”

“Just pretend you’re about to perform in a regular horse show instead of a Wild West shoot-’em-up,” Carole suggested quietly.

“That doesn’t help,” Lisa replied. “I’d be nervous then, too!”

The five girls were huddled in the doorway of a jewelry store a couple of doors down from the bank. At exactly three o’clock they were supposed to stroll out and make their way slowly down the sidewalk toward the bank.

Lisa pushed back the sleeve of her dress and looked at her watch. “Okay, it’s time. Let’s go!”

They stepped out and began walking, trying to look
natural—or as natural as they could in their old-fashioned dresses, anyway. They saw that the bad guys’ horses were lined up at the hitching post in front of the bank.

As the girls neared the bank, the sounds of gunshots came from within, and a curious crowd began to gather nearby. A moment later the bank’s doors burst open and the five desperadoes backed out, holding large sacks of money and firing their six-shooters back into the bank. The girls threw up their hands and cried out in terror. Chuck whirled around and pretended to look surprised as he spotted them cowering nearby.

“Looky here, boys,” he called loudly to his comrades. “I think we found us some hostages.” He grabbed Kate by the shoulder. She screamed loudly and covered her face with her hands.

Stevie had to work hard not to grin as she watched. Kate looked pretty convincing—maybe she should give up riding and go into show business!

“Come here, missy,” another of the bad guys shouted, grabbing Lisa by the arm. “You gals will guarantee that nobody’ll try anything foolish!” He brandished his gun at the crowd to emphasize his point. The crowd gasped, loving every minute of it.

The other robbers grabbed their victims as well. As Cassie started to drag Carole toward her horse, Carole gave one final scream and then pretended to faint dead away. “What
a performance,” Stevie whispered to Sam, who had his gun pointed at her as he held her by one arm.

He jabbed his gun at her ribs and grimaced. “You gonna give me some more of that there rock candy, missy?” he growled in a low voice.

Stevie knew that the crowd couldn’t hear a word Sam was saying. They probably thought he was uttering dire threats. She played along, letting out a few screams and then replying, “Only if you ask nicely.” She almost giggled, but she knew she had to stay in character. To distract herself, she balled her hand into a fist and pretended to threaten him with it. At that he stepped forward, grabbed her around the waist, and slung her over his shoulder, just as they had rehearsed.

As he carried her along, Stevie caught an upside-down glimpse of the girls’ own horses, who were still tied up down the street at the sheriff’s office. While Berry, Chocolate, Spot, and Arrow looked fairly uninterested in the drama unfolding before them, Stewball had his head up and seemed to be staring right at Stevie.

But Stevie barely had time to register the fact before she was distracted by Lisa’s dramatic escape. Lisa wriggled her way out of her captor’s grasp and dashed down the sidewalk, almost tripping over Carole’s limp form as she did so. She ran past the jail and made her escape into the sheriff’s office just beyond it, shrieking all the while.

At almost the same time, Christine was wrestling the gun away from the outlaw who had grabbed her. As she got it
away from him and pointed it at his head, the crowd cheered excitedly. Christine really played it up, making the robber put his hands behind his head and jabbing the gun at his back as she prodded him toward the jail. The onlookers cheered again as the two of them disappeared through the jail entrance.

Stevie watched it all with relish as she continued to scream and struggle to get away. She was having the time of her life, and she could tell the others were, too. Her only concern was for Stewball, of whom she caught glimpses every so often. He was still watching the action, and now he was snorting and stomping, seeming uneasy and restless. Stevie wondered if the gunshots were spooking him. She was a little worried, but she forced herself to put the thought out of her mind. There was nothing she could do about it right now.

“This is great!” she whispered to Sam between screams.

“Quiet, you rock-candy-eatin’ varmint, you,” he replied. He lifted her down, set her on her feet, and grabbed her by the shoulder. Stevie could see Kate and Chuck nearby. They were almost to the part where Chuck and Sam mounted their horses and began their escape. “Okay, now, I’m tellin’ you that if you make one false move, you’re dead,” Sam growled to Stevie. “So if I was you, I’d let out one mighty powerful scream just about now.”

Obediently, Stevie opened her mouth and let out her most bloodcurdling shriek. Just then, out of the corner of
her eye, she spotted Stewball again. And this time he wasn’t just watching. He whinnied and reared, snapping the lead holding him to the hitching post. He reared again and then, apparently realizing he was free, he galloped straight toward her!

S
TEVIE WASN
’
T SURE
what to do as Stewball galloped toward her. Apparently Sam wasn’t, either. “What’s that crazy horse doing?” he whispered as he grabbed Stevie around the waist with one arm and backed quickly away from Stewball. Stevie tried to shrug in reply, but she discovered that was a difficult thing to do while being carried with both arms pinned to her side.

Stewball stopped in front of them and reared again, neighing and squealing loudly while pawing the air with his front hooves. Stevie thought he looked very dramatic. And suddenly it occurred to her what he must be doing—Stewball was trying to rescue her!

Stevie glanced around quickly. Chuck was standing beside his own horse, his gun held loosely in one hand and his other arm encircling Kate’s throat. Both of them were
watching Stewball, wide-eyed. Stevie glanced at Carole, who was still lying on the sidewalk. She thought she saw one of Carole’s eyes open to peek at what was going on. Nobody seemed to know how to respond as Stewball finished rearing and started pawing at the ground again, snorting threateningly.

Stevie quickly came to a decision. If Stewball was determined to become a part of this performance, she was going to let him! Of course she’d have to deviate from the script, but after all, wasn’t that what great acting was about—improvisation?

She wriggled out of Sam’s grip. The minute she was free, Stewball stopped snorting and stood perfectly still. Sam, meanwhile, had turned to run in the opposite direction. Stevie quickly tightened the girth on Stewball’s saddle, hitched up her skirt, and leaped aboard, thankful that she’d left her jeans on underneath the dress. Without any direction from her, Stewball took off after Sam. The crowd went wild.

Now Stevie couldn’t stop herself from grinning just a little. She had always known Stewball had a mind of his own, but she hadn’t realized just how smart he really was.

The audience continued to cheer and holler as Stewball chased Sam down the street. Sam searched desperately for someplace to hide, but every time he veered toward the sidewalk, Stewball was there before him, herding him as well as he would any recalcitrant calf. Stevie let out a
whoop, and the crowd whooped back. “Go, Stewball,” Stevie whispered. “You’re stealing the show!”

Just then she noticed the actors playing the sheriff and his posse. They were positioned at the end of the street ready to make their entrance, looking very confused and a little annoyed. Stevie glanced up and saw the man who played the sheriff’s deputy peering down from his rooftop perch across the street. She felt guilty about upstaging them right before their exciting entrance, but only for a second. She was having too much fun to worry about it for any longer than that.

Sam had reached the horses in front of the bank. He approached Spot and tried to mount him, not realizing his girth had been loosened. The big Western saddle slipped sideways under Sam’s weight and dumped him back on the ground. Spot looked around as if wondering what was going on. The crowd roared with laughter, but Stevie noticed that Sam didn’t look very amused. She decided he was probably just a good actor.

“Get ’im, Stewball!” she shouted, ripping off her bonnet and waving it above her head as if it were a cowboy hat. Stewball leaped forward obediently, and Sam looked around for another escape.

He headed for the stand of trees just beyond the hitching post. There weren’t many trees in Two Mile Creek, since it was a desert town—just a few scattered here and there for shade. “He’s lucky that isn’t a cactus,” Stevie remarked to Stewball as Sam shinnied up the trunk and perched on one of the lower branches.

Stewball replied by rushing up to the tree and rearing, as if trying to follow Sam up there. Stevie suspected that he looked pretty threatening to the crowd—and she could tell by the look on Sam’s face that Stewball definitely looked threatening to him!

Luckily Stevie was a skilled enough rider to stay in the saddle while her horse reared. “Okay, Stewball,” she said firmly, trying to calm the excited horse with her legs and her voice. “I think you made your point. We’ll let the sheriff take it from here.”

But Stewball paid no attention to her. He continued to rear.

“Get that beast under control, will you?” Sam hissed. Stevie thought he sounded more frightened than he should be.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you,” she called up to Sam. “He’s just overexcited.” She knew she was breaking character, but she decided that at this point it was necessary. She was sure that Stewball would calm down as soon as Sam did, but Sam didn’t look as though he were about to calm down anytime soon.

Sam was shaking his head. “That horse is a demon. A real demon,” he said. “Get him away!”

“He won’t hurt you, really,” Stevie repeated. “He just wants to be friends. I’m sure if you just climb down slowly …”

“No way!” Sam cried. “I’m not coming anywhere near that crazy horse! He’ll kill me!”

From the murmurings from the crowd, Stevie could tell they agreed with Sam. She wondered desperately what she should do. Suddenly the perfect solution came to her. “Hey, Sam,” she called up to him. “Do you still have that rock candy in your pocket?”

For a moment Sam looked confused. Then a look of understanding dawned on his face. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the candy, and leaned down to offer it to Stewball.

The horse sniffed, then carefully reached up and took the candy right out of Sam’s hand. Munching contentedly, he backed away from the tree and stood still. Sam climbed down from the tree and cautiously stepped toward Stewball. Stewball strolled forward and began nosing Sam’s pockets, begging for more candy. Stevie dismounted and gave him some of hers.

The crowd had been laughing hysterically throughout the last part of Stewball’s performance, loving every minute of it. Now they burst into wild applause. Stewball turned to see what all the noise was and bobbed his head as if taking a bow. That made everyone clap even harder.

Finally Sam returned to the bank and the show continued. Stevie took Stewball back to his place with the other horses and watched from there as the performers picked up the show at the spot where Stewball had interrupted it. But somehow even the deputy’s fall from the roof and the gun battle with the posse seemed like a letdown after Stevie and
Stewball’s performance. The crowd applauded politely when it was all over, but it was nothing like the response Stevie and Stewball had gotten.

“Didn’t I tell you, Stewball?” Stevie whispered, rubbing the horse’s nose affectionately. “You really stole the show!”

T
HE GIRLS WERE
not asked to repeat their performance at the late show. In fact, they were politely but firmly asked
not
to repeat it.

“Well, I for one thought you and Stewball were great,” Kate told Stevie as the girls walked toward the high school to turn in their costumes.

“Stewball was pretty great, wasn’t he?” Stevie said. “I always suspected he was the smartest horse I’d ever met, and now I know it for a fact. What other horse would have come galloping to my rescue that way?” She shook her head, chuckling at the memory. “I don’t care if he
did
upset the show a little. He only had my best interests at heart. Besides, I thought his performance was pretty entertaining—scripted or not!”