The Fox Hunt by Bonnie Bryant

May.
    “Wouldn’t you know it?” Stevie said.
    “That’s the girl who was supposed to take care of me,” May said. “Now it looks like somebody ought to take care of her. What’s wrong with her?”
    “She just thinks she’s so smart because she saw us first. That’s why she’s waving her arms.”
    “I didn’t mean that part,” May said. “What’s wrong with her that she’s riding across Mr. Andrews’s field?”
    May was absolutely right, and it was the best news Stevie had all day. She gave May a big squeeze. “You’re quite a fox!” Stevie declared.

U SUALLY S TEVIE FOUND it quite boring when she had to walk her horse to cool him down after a ride. She and May were circling the indoor ring at Pine Hollow on foot, leading Topside and May’s pony, Luna. They walked quietly so they could hear every word Max and Mr. Baker were saying to Veronica. There was nothing boring about it.
    “Veronica, you are very familiar with the rules,” Max said.
    “But I saw Stevie. I just had to catch up to her.”
    “It wasn’t your job to catch up to her. That’s the huntsman’s job. It was your job to inform the huntsman that you’d seen her.”
    “Well, she shouldn’t have been where she was, and there was no way I could have told anybody else. Ifshe’d been in the woods where any sensible fox would have been, it wouldn’t have been any problem. Instead, she was dashing for home—and stopped to help that little girl—”
    “Who you were supposed to be looking out after,” Max interrupted. Veronica ignored that.
    “—so I did the most logical thing because I was so much closer than anyone else,” Veronica protested.
    “The riders on a hunt are along to watch, not to do the work of others,” Mr. Baker said sternly. “The fox-hunting rules are well-known and well-established. If participants don’t follow the rules, there will be chaos. By following the fox on your own instead of informing the Master and the huntsman, you made a serious breach of fox-hunting etiquette. It cannot be permitted.”
    Veronica gave him a look that Stevie had seen before many times. It was a look that said, “I hear what you’re saying and I don’t agree with you, but I’m going to pretend that I do just so you’ll stop complaining.”
    What her mouth said was, “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
    “You’re right about that,” Mr. Baker said. “And it certainly won’t happen in any hunt that I have anything to do with. Turning around and getting ahead of the huntsman and the Master was thoughtless and rude, but crossing Mr. Andrews’s land was simply unforgivable. As of now, Max is withdrawing his invitationto you to participate further in this mock hunt, and I am formally disinviting you to the junior hunt at Cross County next week.”
    “You—what?” Veronica exploded. Nobody had ever disinvited her to anything. After all, she considered herself to be from one of the finest families. Veronica simply couldn’t believe her ears.
    “Good-bye,” Mr. Baker said. He turned his back to her.
    Stevie could hardly believe her ears or her eyes either. It was too wonderful. She could have imagined dozens of ways to play tricks and try to get back at Veronica, but not one of them could possibly measure up to what Mr. Baker had done with a few sharp words. As far as fox hunting went, Veronica was history.
    “Isn’t it great?” Stevie whispered to May.
    May nodded conspiratorially. “She deserves it.”
    The girls gave one another high fives. Max glanced up sharply when he heard the clap of their hands. Without further ado, the girls returned to the job of cooling down their horses. The last thing they wanted was to draw the attention of Max and Mr. Baker when they were in any kind of disinviting mood. Their worry turned out to be unnecessary.
    “Looks like those horses might be ready for a rest now,” Mr. Baker said. “Why don’t you girls—I mean foxes—dig into the hunt breakfast?”
    “As long as