sliding rush down the other side. But this was not like the wonderful moonlight rides they had had so many times before. This time fear rode beside them.
After a long while they stopped and rested in a little valley. Pamela tried to question Ponyboy, but he only shook his head.
Some time later they came, quietly, to the woods behind the old barn, and the ponies gathered around for Pamela’s good-by pat. Ponyboy had been very strange and quiet on the ride home, but now he grinned and touched his curly forelock in a mock salute.
“Thank you, Girl,” he said.
A Puzzling Surprise
N OTHING WAS CHANGED BY the strange thing that happened that night except that the next few times Pamela met Ponyboy they did not go to the forest meadow. Pamela couldn’t get Ponyboy to talk about what had happened no matter how skillfully she questioned him, but it seemed to her that he was troubled at times. Sometimes he would stop whatever he was doing and listen intently. Then he would be himself again. But he came as often as ever, and they had good times at Shadow Glen and in the forest.
After awhile they began to go to the clearing again to play games. Pamela was surprised to find how many games, like tag and hide-and-go-seek, could be played on horseback. They played these regularly, until the day they discovered the game of Circus. It started when Pamela was telling Ponyboy about a circus she had been to with her father.
“The part I liked best,” she said, “was the equestrian act. There was a whole family in fancy costumes who did tricks on a troupe of beautiful, trained ponies.”
“Bet they weren’t as smart as my ponies,” he said. “What could they do?”
Pamela told him all about it, down to the last detail, from the plumes on the ponies’ headdresses to the hoops of fire the riders jumped through. When she had told everything she could remember, Ponyboy jumped up excitedly. “Let’s do it!” he cried.
“Do it? What part of it?” Pamela asked.
He gestured impatiently. “Everything. All of it.”
“But you can’t just do those things. I mean not really. We could sort of pretend; but to really do the tricks, you’d have to practice and practice and it wouldn’t be easy. I read in a book once about how you start in a practice harness and—”
“A practice harness?” Ponyboy asked.
“Yes. It holds you up if you fall off the horse. Its fastened to a sort of crane overhead and—”
“Bring the book next time,” Ponyboy interrupted. “I want to see it.”
“Oh, I can’t. It was from the library in town. I got it out once when I went to town with my aunts.”
“Well, take it out again then.”
“I’m—I’m not allowed to go to the library any more.”
“Oh?” Ponyboy asked. “Why not?”
“I don’t know, really. Right after I got that book out, Aunt Sarah decided to go to the library and pick my books out for me. She said she would select more suitable material.”
“Just like Them,” he muttered disgustedly. “What’s wrong with a book about bareback riding, I’d like to know.”
“I don’t know. I wondered about it.”
Ponyboy’s shrug said that the whole thing was beyond sensible comment. “We don’t need a book,” he said cockily. “We’ll learn without it. It’ll be easy.”
The very next day Pamela had scarcely reached her room when she heard the flute’s call. Ponyboy had never come two nights in a row before. Surprised and delighted, Pamela scrambled down the trellis and arrived breathless under the oak tree where he waited impatiently. When they reached the meadow, Pamela saw that he had outlined with stones a small practice ring. It lay at the end of the clearing under a huge old oak, and from a sturdy branch there hung a practice harness.
“I made the harness from some stuff I found in the old barn,” he said proudly. “And I’ve been training the ponies. I think we’re ready to start learning.”
Pamela wasn’t nearly so sure. To stand up on a
After a long while they stopped and rested in a little valley. Pamela tried to question Ponyboy, but he only shook his head.
Some time later they came, quietly, to the woods behind the old barn, and the ponies gathered around for Pamela’s good-by pat. Ponyboy had been very strange and quiet on the ride home, but now he grinned and touched his curly forelock in a mock salute.
“Thank you, Girl,” he said.
A Puzzling Surprise
N OTHING WAS CHANGED BY the strange thing that happened that night except that the next few times Pamela met Ponyboy they did not go to the forest meadow. Pamela couldn’t get Ponyboy to talk about what had happened no matter how skillfully she questioned him, but it seemed to her that he was troubled at times. Sometimes he would stop whatever he was doing and listen intently. Then he would be himself again. But he came as often as ever, and they had good times at Shadow Glen and in the forest.
After awhile they began to go to the clearing again to play games. Pamela was surprised to find how many games, like tag and hide-and-go-seek, could be played on horseback. They played these regularly, until the day they discovered the game of Circus. It started when Pamela was telling Ponyboy about a circus she had been to with her father.
“The part I liked best,” she said, “was the equestrian act. There was a whole family in fancy costumes who did tricks on a troupe of beautiful, trained ponies.”
“Bet they weren’t as smart as my ponies,” he said. “What could they do?”
Pamela told him all about it, down to the last detail, from the plumes on the ponies’ headdresses to the hoops of fire the riders jumped through. When she had told everything she could remember, Ponyboy jumped up excitedly. “Let’s do it!” he cried.
“Do it? What part of it?” Pamela asked.
He gestured impatiently. “Everything. All of it.”
“But you can’t just do those things. I mean not really. We could sort of pretend; but to really do the tricks, you’d have to practice and practice and it wouldn’t be easy. I read in a book once about how you start in a practice harness and—”
“A practice harness?” Ponyboy asked.
“Yes. It holds you up if you fall off the horse. Its fastened to a sort of crane overhead and—”
“Bring the book next time,” Ponyboy interrupted. “I want to see it.”
“Oh, I can’t. It was from the library in town. I got it out once when I went to town with my aunts.”
“Well, take it out again then.”
“I’m—I’m not allowed to go to the library any more.”
“Oh?” Ponyboy asked. “Why not?”
“I don’t know, really. Right after I got that book out, Aunt Sarah decided to go to the library and pick my books out for me. She said she would select more suitable material.”
“Just like Them,” he muttered disgustedly. “What’s wrong with a book about bareback riding, I’d like to know.”
“I don’t know. I wondered about it.”
Ponyboy’s shrug said that the whole thing was beyond sensible comment. “We don’t need a book,” he said cockily. “We’ll learn without it. It’ll be easy.”
The very next day Pamela had scarcely reached her room when she heard the flute’s call. Ponyboy had never come two nights in a row before. Surprised and delighted, Pamela scrambled down the trellis and arrived breathless under the oak tree where he waited impatiently. When they reached the meadow, Pamela saw that he had outlined with stones a small practice ring. It lay at the end of the clearing under a huge old oak, and from a sturdy branch there hung a practice harness.
“I made the harness from some stuff I found in the old barn,” he said proudly. “And I’ve been training the ponies. I think we’re ready to start learning.”
Pamela wasn’t nearly so sure. To stand up on a
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