The Runaway Racehorse (6 page)

CHAPTER 10

“You’re a genius!” Ruth Rose said.

“I know,” Josh said.

Dink glanced around the empty barn. “Now all we have to do is wait for Sunny.”

Ruth Rose stuffed the pictures back into the packet. “Well, I, for one, am not waiting around,” she said. “Come on, let’s go check out Mr. Bunks’s place again.”

“What are we gonna do when we get there?” Josh asked as they hurried up Forest’s driveway.

“Look for Whirlaway,” Ruth Rose
said. “Do you still have those sugar cubes?”

Josh patted his pocket. “Yep.”

The kids cut behind Forest’s barn and headed for the logging road.

A few minutes later, they reached Mr. Bunks’s house and barn.

“I don’t see that dog anywhere,” Josh whispered.

“And I don’t see Mr. Bunks’s truck,” Dink said.

“Let’s check out the barn,” Ruth Rose said. The kids slipped into the barn. It was quiet and dim, with a little light coming through the dusty windows.

“Biscuit’s gone!” Dink said, stopping in front of her empty stall. “Where is she?”

As if in answer, they heard a horse whinny. “Come on,” Dink said, heading outside.

Behind the barn was an open field
with a path leading through the tall weeds. The kids followed the trail and entered a stand of trees. As they reached the far side of the trees, the kids stopped and stared. They were in a clearing in front of a long shed. A horse trailer was partially hidden behind the low building.

The kids pulled open the wide shed door and peeked inside. Dink wrinkled his nose at the sharp manure smell.

Half of the shed was fenced off with boards. Behind the fence was Biscuit, staring at the newcomers.

In a separate stall next to Biscuit’s was another horse, wearing a halter. The dark horse looked just like Whirlaway, except that there was no white diamond on this horse’s shiny forehead.

“It’s the horse who won,” Josh breathed.

“Is it Whirlaway?” Dink whispered.

Josh unwrapped a sugar cube, walked over to the fence, and held out his hand. The dark horse stepped closer for a sniff. Then he snorted and shook his head.

“He won’t take it!” Josh exclaimed. He reached out and carefully touched the horse’s forehead. When he brought his hand away, his fingers were smeared with something black.

Dink took a towel from a nail on the wall. Holding the horse’s halter with one hand, he wiped his forehead.

More black came off, revealing part of a white diamond shape.

Dink felt goose bumps crawl up his back. “Sunny did switch horses!” he said.

“This is Whirlaway,” Ruth Rose said. She opened her envelope of pictures. She found the one of Sunny and the horse in barn E and held it up next to the real Whirlaway. “The horse back at
Forest’s place is his double!” she said.

“We have to tell Forest!” Josh said.

“Tell him what?” a voice said.

The kids whirled around. In the shed doorway stood Mr. Bunks and Buster. Mr. Bunks was still wearing the clothes he’d worn in the winner’s circle, including the silver belt buckle. “Sit, dog,” Mr. Bunks said to Buster. The dog sat at his master’s side. A low growl came from deep in his throat.

“So you figured it out,” Mr. Bunks said. He nodded at the towel in Dink’s hand. “Even my boot polish trick.”

His
boot polish trick?
Dink thought. Suddenly Dink realized the truth. Sunny had not been the one to put the boot polish on Whirlaway! It was Mr. Bunks! And it had been Bunks’s belt buckle that made the mark in the mud on the horse they washed! It wasn’t Sunny who had stolen Whirlaway. She thought she was riding Whirlaway in
the race. Mr. Bunks had done it alone!

Dink glanced around the dim shed, looking for another way out. The windows were closed and too high up.

“Now, if you’ll just pass me those pictures,” Mr. Bunks said, holding out a hand. The man smiled, but it wasn’t the friendly smile he’d shown yesterday.

Dink took the photos from Ruth Rose and handed them to Mr. Bunks.

“We don’t need the pictures,” Dink said. “We know this is Whirlaway and we know you stole him from Mr. Evans.”

Mr. Bunks laughed. “Whirlaway? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “I bought this horse. Can I help it if he just happens to look like Whirlaway? Can I help it if he just happens to run like the wind?”

He slipped the photos inside his shirt. “No one will ever prove I stole this horse from Forest.”

“We won’t have to prove anything, Tinker,” a voice said. “Not with all these witnesses.”

Forest, Uncle Warren, and Sunny-walked into the shed.

*     *     *

An hour later, everyone sat around Forest’s picnic table eating burgers.

“
H
ow did you guys know where we were?” Dink asked.

“I was coming back just as you were leaving,” Sunny said. “You had such determined looks on your faces, I decided to tell Forest.”

“And we reached the shed in time to hear everything,” Forest said. “Mr. Bunks is going to jail.”

“Did Mr. Bunks actually think he could get away with this?” Ruth Rose said.

Forest nodded. “Well, he was lucky to find Whirlaway’s double. Even the white face diamonds are the same,” he said. “I was fooled, but Sunny noticed a difference.”

“Whirlaway is usually so friendly,” Sunny said. “I got suspicious when the look-alike acted like he didn’t know me. On the way home from Saratoga, I stopped at the vet’s. He took a blood sample that’ll prove the horse I rode isn’t Whirlaway.”

“That horse is called Dancer,” Forest said. “Bunks switched names, too. Turns out the woman he bought Dancer from didn’t treat her horse very well. That’s why he was afraid of Sunny. Her voice reminded him of his abusive owner.”

“What will happen to Dancer and Biscuit when Mr. Bunks goes to jail?” Ruth Rose asked.

Forest winked. “I’ve arranged to buy them,” he said. “From now on, Whirl-away won’t have to run away to visit his mother.”

“Awesome!” Josh said. He picked up his hamburger and took a big bite. As he did, a glob of ketchup squirted out and landed on his clean white T-shirt.