Daisy and Dancer (5 page)

Isabel and Rosie are asleep now. (Finally! We’ve been up whispering and scoffing sweets for ages!) But I can’t settle down because everything that’s happened keeps going round and round in my head. So I’m going to write it all down in here – thank goodness I remembered to bring my torch to Pony Camp!

Well, the reason Isabel called us over to the window was because she thought she’d seen a
ghost
! “It was there!” she insisted, tapping the glass. “A floaty white shape. By the apple tree!”

At first we thought she was joking, but she looked really pale and shaken, so we had to believe her – well, I believed she’d spotted
something
, anyway.

Rosie and I peered out too, but we couldn’t see anything (it had got a bit foggy and it was nearly dark). I really wanted to see it for myself, but even though we stood staring out of the window for ages there was nothing, and it was getting darker and darker all the time.

“You must have imagined it,” said Rosie finally.

“No, I didn’t. I know what I saw,” Isabel insisted. “It must have gone round the side of the farmhouse.”

“Come on then, let’s go and investigate,” I said.

“WHAT?!” gasped Rosie, looking at me as if I was crazy.

“Perhaps it was just an old feed sack blowing in the wind or something,” I reasoned. “But we’re not going to find out standing here, are we?”

Rosie shuddered. “I’m not sure about this…” she began.

But surprisingly, Isabel was on my side. “Brrrr! I’m not going to get any sleep tonight unless we find out what that was,” she said.

So then Rosie said, “Well, I suppose I’ll have to come, then, won’t I? I’m not letting you two go without me!” And that’s how we ended up pulling our fleeces on over our PJs and heading down to the kitchen.

If Jody had been there, we’d have asked her if we could go out, but she was in the alcove bit in the hall on the phone. We hung around for a while, waiting for her to finish, but eventually we decided to quickly put on our boots and pop out to have a look. Well, I suppose
I
decided that, really. “I’m sure it’s nothing and we’ll be back in two minutes,” I told Isabel and Rosie. “She won’t even know we’ve gone.” So we linked arms, holding on tightly to one another, and crept out of the door (Rosie remembered to put it on the latch so we could get back in again).

It was almost completely dark by then, and in the rolling fog, Sunnyside seemed strange and 
– totally different from the friendly, lively place it is in the daytime. I wished I’d brought my torch out with me, but it was too late to turn back now. Our arms linked tightly, Isabel, Rosie and I stumbled along, whispering and shushing each other, while our eyes got used to the dark. We reached the apple tree and, even though going out there was my idea, I was really relieved that we
couldn’t
see anything ghostlike. Then suddenly Isabel gasped and tightened her grip on my arm. “There it is, over there,” she hissed.

We all saw it then, a white shape floating around at the far side of the manège fence.

I could feel Isabel trembling. “See? It
is
a ghost,” she insisted.

“Let’s run for it!” Rosie whispered.

But somehow I found a little bit of bravery and clamped my arms tightly round theirs. “We should try and have a proper look,” I whispered. “Come on, it’s OK, don’t be scared.”

They followed me and we tiptoed slowly closer to the shape. It was a misty white colour and really did look like a ghost.

“Told you!” Isabel hissed.

“Just a minute,” I whispered. I listened out, concentrating hard. Yes, I thought I’d heard something that sounded familiar, and there it was again. “Erm, I don’t think a ghost munches grass,” I said then. “Listen.”

We all stood completely still and silent, straining to hear. There was definitely a
chomping sound. And then the “ghost” did a big snort! Of course! It was a loose pony!

We stumbled closer to it, and I spoke gently so it would know we were approaching and we wouldn’t startle it. “Steady, boy – or girl,” I said. “We can’t have you wandering round in the dark, can we? You might do yourself an injury.”

Isabel found a polo in her fleece pocket and gave it to me. I made a clicking sound, held out the polo and said, “Come on then, it’s OK.” I was worried the pony might turn and bolt off, which would have been dangerous, but he came trotting towards us and took it. Luckily, he had a head collar on so I was able to gently take hold of it. That’s when we worked out it was Charm. “He must have escaped from the field somehow,” I told them.

We weren’t sure what to do next because it was pitch dark by then. We didn’t want to lead him back to the yard in case he ended up injuring himself or spooking and bolting off, maybe injuring
us
. At first Isabel said she’d go and tell Jody he was loose, and get her to come with a torch and lead rope, but when it came to it, she was too scared to walk back to the farmhouse by herself. I realized that there was only one thing we could do – one of us would have to stay out in the dark with Charm. Rosie and Isabel said no way could they do that, they were far too scared. I was scared too, but I knew we couldn’t leave Charm, so I somehow found myself saying
I
would do it.

“Wow, Daisy, you’re so brave!” cried Rosie.

“We’ll be as quick as we can,” promised Isabel, and they linked arms and hurried back towards the farmhouse.

I stood holding Charm’s head collar, patting
him and whispering that we’d soon have him back in his field and everything would be OK. Once or twice I started to get really spooked, especially with the wind rustling the leaves of the apple tree and making the branches creak. But when that happened I just told myself firmly that I had to stay calm and confident for Charm, and somehow it worked.

I was relieved when I saw the torchlight, though. “Over here!” I called. It turned out to be Millie’s dad Johnny and James, her brother.

“Well done, Daisy,” said Johnny, as he clipped the lead rope on to Charm’s head collar. We walked along together, with Johnny’s torch lighting the way and Johnny leading Charm. “If it wasn’t for you girls he could have been out here all night, running loose and maybe getting hurt,” he added. “Although I think Jody will want to know exactly
what
you were doing out here.”

My stomach did a big flip then, as I wondered just how much trouble we were in!

Johnny and James walked me to the door of the farmhouse, and then they headed off up to the field to put Charm back. When I went into the kitchen all the girls were sitting round the big table having their hot chocolate. Isabel and Rosie looked relieved to see me, and Brooke said, “Oh, Daisy, thanks so much for finding Charm – he could have been badly hurt!”

But Jody turned round from the pan she was stirring on the stove and raised her eyebrows at me. “I’m so sorry,” I blurted out. “Please don’t blame Isabel and Rosie. Going out there was all my idea.”