Scout and the Mystery of the Marsh Ponies (2 page)

“Oh, yes,” Tallulah sniffed importantly, fluttering her glittery lashes for a moment. “I keep trying to get hold of top-class jumpers so that I can finally beat her, but I haven’t had any luck yet. Dad’s made loads of huge offers at shows whenever a pony does really well, but no one’s agreed to sell their ponies to me yet – I can’t think why.”

“I can,” Rosie whispered to Mia. “
Everyone
knows that Tallulah’s got a habit of ruining good ponies by jumping them over fences that are too big.”

“And once she’s spoilt them,” Mia whispered back, “she thinks they’re useless and sells them like they’re one of her dad’s second-hand cars.”

“What was that?” Tallulah asked as the girls exchanged looks.

“Oh, nothing,” Rosie said quickly.

“It’s odd, isn’t it?” Tallulah sighed, carrying on. “Dad even offered to buy Moonlight once. To be honest, he wouldn’t really go with my colour scheme of all greys. But Poppy Brookes said she wouldn’t ever sell him at any price, anyway. So I’m still searching for a pony who can take him on. And I
will
find one, especially with the money Dad can afford to pay. Then it’ll be me that everyone gets excited about talking to at shows, not Poppy.”

Tallulah fell silent as Poppy reached the group,
which was soon joined by Alice and Charlie who rode out of the ring with their red and blue rosettes fixed to their bridles.

“Congratulations, you two,” Poppy beamed up at them. Alice went slightly pink, still a little bit in awe of Poppy. Charlie flung herself out of the saddle. Tallulah loitered nearby, eavesdropping as she bent down pretending to fuss over the tendon boots wrapped around Diamond Starr’s front legs.

“Scout picking up first prize is starting to get a bit of a habit these days. Moonlight, you’ll have some serious competition if he carries on like this!” Poppy smiled, stroking her pony’s black and white neck. “If I didn’t have you, I’d love to ride Scout. He’s a real star, isn’t he? Alice, please tell me you’re not thinking of entering the Sweetbriar Stud Cup next weekend? That’s one I wanted to win…”

“You never know,” Alice laughed, well aware that Poppy was joking. She’d watched the
Sweetbriar Stud Cup the year before. It was held at the last show of the summer holidays and the fences were massive; there was no way she’d even get over the first! The Fratton Cup was pretty much as big as she wanted to jump on Scout without denting his confidence, or hers. For Moonlight and Poppy, though, the Fratton Cup had just been a warm-up on the way to much bigger classes. Since that show, Poppy and Alice had hardly competed against each other.

Poppy smiled, then looked over to the ring. “Right, my class is on next, so I’d better get going. Lovely to see you all!”

She jumped lightly into the saddle and trotted Moonlight off to the warm-up area, waving over her shoulder.

As Poppy disappeared Alice noticed Tallulah standing on tiptoes, peering over the top of Diamond Starr’s saddle to get a better look at Scout. A second later her dad walked over, looking ruddy-faced after continuing his row with
the judges. Tallulah whispered something to him. The next second, he pulled out a cheque book and marched towards Rosie.

“Right, how much do you want for this nag?” he boomed, nodding towards the sleepy roan mare in front of him.

“Not that one, Dad!” Tallulah shouted rudely, pointing wildly towards Scout. “It’s the
grey
pony Poppy said could beat her in the Stud Cup!”

Mr Starr turned to Alice and repeated his question to her, sizing up Scout like he was a shiny new sports car. Alice felt half as if she was about to laugh out loud at Mr Starr and half furious that Tallulah had even got him to ask the question.

“He’s not for sale,” she told him, shaking her head in amazement. “He belongs to Mrs Valentine, but there’s no way she’d ever sell him. She put him on permanent loan to me a year ago.”

“What? He’s not even yours?” Tallulah butted in, dragging Diamond Starr towards Alice irritably.

“It doesn’t matter, princess,” Mr Starr said, ignoring Alice and waving his cheque book about. “We’ll just have to find this Mrs Valentine, then persuade her to change her mind.”

Tallulah squealed, hugging her dad before they rushed back to their box, where one of her grooms already had a different pony waiting for her to ride in the next class against Poppy.

Chapter Two

“H
ONESTLY,
what part of ‘permanent’ does Tallulah not understand?” Charlie laughed.

“I can’t believe she’d even get her dad to ask!” Mia agreed.

“Tallulah wouldn’t have looked twice at Scout when I first got him, either,” Alice said. “He was so scraggly and unloved. Only now he’s doing brilliantly and Poppy’s being nice about him, suddenly she’s interested!”

Alice leaned forward and hugged her grey pony. She’d first caught sight of Scout when she was cycling along the path next to Dragonfly Marsh. It was a shortcut from her home to Rockland Riding School, where she used to help out at weekends and where Charlie and Mia
had kept their ponies before Rosie’s parents inherited Blackberry Farm. The grey pony had peeped nervously through the grass. He had been a bit thin, with slightly overgrown hooves, and his coat was ungroomed. His tattered headcollar was held together with baler twine and his tail dragged through the marsh grass. Alice had fallen in love with the lonely little pony at first sight.

Pretty quickly she’d started making special trips each day after school to see him, taking apples and carrots. He’d stood waiting for her and whickered when she turned up. She spent longer and longer sitting on the fence, keeping him company as he grazed nearby, pretending that he was hers. Secretly, she dreamed that one day he just might be. She’d been desperate to find out who, if anyone, owned him.

“Are you coming or not, Alice? I need an ice cream before I melt,” Rosie declared. Alice realised that she’d been daydreaming and that the others were all staring at her, waiting for her
reply. She nodded, and together they started to make their way through the crowds towards the food stalls.

Alice wandered along, Scout by her side gently nuzzling her arm. She smiled as she remembered the magical day the advert had appeared in
Pony Mad:
‘Dappled grey pony for loan owing to sad circumstances. In need of love and attention. Currently turned out on marshland on the Suffolk coast.’ Alice had persuaded her parents to call the number, just in case it was the same pony she’d fallen in love with on Dragonfly Marsh. To her absolute delight, it was. So Alice and her parents had met the pony’s owner, a Mrs Valentine, at the marsh. Mrs Valentine had explained that she’d had Scout since he was a foal for her daughter, Scarlett. But Scarlett wasn’t well, and Mrs Valentine couldn’t look after both Scout and Scarlett. She couldn’t bring herself to ever sell her daughter’s pony either, though, so a permanent loan seemed the best solution. Alice’s parents had
agreed to it there and then, seeing how deliriously happy it made Alice. Just a few weeks after Rosie’s family inherited Blackberry Farm, Alice excitedly led Scout into his new stable there.

She bought an ice cream and sat on the grass with the others in the shade of a tall beech tree. The four ponies grazed at the end of their reins as the girls watched Poppy beat the opposition and take her class easily. Tallulah and one of her other greys, Starr Dream, came fifth.

“I guess we’d better get the ponies back to the farm,” Charlie said, scratching behind Pirate’s ear then tightening his girth, although Dancer made it clear that she quite liked the sweet grass under the tree and wasn’t that keen to go anywhere.

When she finally raised her head they hopped into their saddles and rode together through the dusty lorry park, towards the exit. They were just a few strides away when a tall, thin woman dressed smartly all in green, with a big hat, blonde hair and huge sunglasses, stepped into their path.

“Alice…?” she asked softly, smiling as she tipped her glasses down just enough to look over the top. “Alice Hathaway?”

Alice stopped for a second, staring hard as her eyes widened. It had been over a year since she’d last seen the woman standing in front of her, but she hadn’t changed a bit.

“Mrs Valentine!” she beamed. She sat up taller in an instant, more pleased than ever that Scout had a red rosette flowing from his bridle. That way Mrs Valentine could see at once how well he was doing and how well she was looking after Scarlett’s pony.

“You remembered, how sweet,” the woman said warmly in a voice like honey. “I thought I might catch you here. I’d been hearing very good things about this pony so I decided to come and see for myself. He was certainly very impressive earlier.”

Alice nodded, smiling back.

“I thought I’d take some pictures of him,”
Mrs Valentine purred, patting her camera. “You know, to show Scarlett. She wanted to come today but she couldn’t; she’s still too ill, you see. This is the next best thing. So if you could jump off, get the pony standing nicely square, that’s it. Scarlett will be so happy to see Sunny…”

As Alice slid out of the saddle she felt her knees suddenly buckle. She hadn’t heard Scout called Sunny for over a year and it was a sharp reminder that he wasn’t really hers. But there was no reason for Mrs Valentine to remember the new name that Alice had given Scarlett’s pony, even though she’d written to tell her. Alice had started calling Scout by that name right from when she’d first seen him on Dragonfly Marsh and he’d trotted into view through the long marsh grasses like a lone adventurer. When she’d found out from Mrs Valentine that his name was Sunny she’d tried using it, but Sunny just hadn’t suited the grey pony at all – it was more of a chestnut kind of name, and Scout had never responded to it anyway.

Alice gently pushed Scout back a step so that he was standing almost square, with his front and back hooves in line, then she stood by his head smiling happily at the camera and making sure that his rosette was on full display.

Mrs Valentine’s finger hovered above the button. She paused and looked over the camera.

“Hmm, the picture doesn’t look quite right somehow. I know, why don’t you take one step away from the pony, Alice,” she said, smiling encouragingly. “That might be better…”

Alice apologised, suddenly feeling awkward, and quickly moved backwards. Scout took a step towards her. Alice laughed. A tinkly laugh came from Mrs Valentine as she waved Alice to the side once more. Alice set Scout up again then took a tentative step back. Scout stretched out his nose towards her, then heard a horse neigh in the distance and raised his head, his ears pricked, looking handsome.

Mrs Valentine clicked away frantically then 
held her hand up to the camera to check the last frame. Her face creased into a smile.

“Excellent!” she announced, looking very pleased as she packed her camera away. “The advert in
Pony Mad
will look perfect.”

“Advert? What advert?” Alice said, wondering what Mrs Valentine was going on about. “What for?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, didn’t I say?” Mrs Valentine said breezily. “I’m putting Sunny here up for sale.”

Chapter Three

A
LICE’S
insides turned to ice and she felt lightheaded as she stood in the midday heat.

“But… but I don’t get it,” she stuttered, looking desperately round at the others. “You’ve had Scout since he was a foal – you said that you and Scarlett would
never
sell him, that I could have him on permanent loan…”

“Did I? Oh dear. Well, well, things change, don’t they?” Mrs Valentine said smoothly. “You see, Scarlett’s lost all interest in ponies now so I’ve decided that it’s time to get rid of him. Obviously, you’ll have first refusal before the advert comes out because I’m sure you’re so attached you couldn’t bear to part with him. That’s only fair now, isn’t it?”

She smiled at Alice encouragingly. Alice nodded, breaking into a smile too as she felt relief flood through her. As she started to breathe again, her heart crashed against her ribs. She knew that her parents didn’t have much money at all, but if the price wasn’t too high she might be able to help raise some of the cash herself.

“How much are you asking?” She could hardly believe that she was actually saying the words. The dream of owning Scout suddenly felt as if it might finally come true – he might become her very own pony at last! Her mind raced. She remembered how sorry and neglected Scout had looked when she’d taken him on loan and hoped it would be a price she could afford. She barely breathed as Mrs Valentine lowered her glasses a fraction and gave Scout one final appraising look.

“I’ll tell you what, as you’ve looked after him for a year, I’ll do you a deal,” Mrs Valentine said, wrinkling her nose in a smile at Alice, “at £6,000.
After all, a pony with as many wins as this one is
very
valuable.”

Alice gasped. It felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of her at once. For a second the field in front of her spun and she leaned heavily against Scout, tangling her fingers in his mane. There was no way her parents could even
begin
to afford that much – she didn’t even have to ask. They never said anything to her, but she knew that sometimes they struggled even to find the money to keep Scout at Blackberry Farm each month, let alone buy his hard feed and his hay as well as pay to have him wormed, his hoofs shod and his teeth checked. To save up the figure Mrs Valentine wanted would take for ever, even if she helped like mad. It was impossible.

“Hang on a second, though,” Mia suddenly piped up after the initial shock of Mrs Valentine naming such a huge price. “Scout wasn’t worth anywhere
near
that much when Alice first took him on!” 

“Mia’s right!” Charlie agreed crossly. “Alice has put in all the hard work!”

“Exactly! It’s totally unfair!” Rosie added, going pink with indignation.

Mrs Valentine turned her sunglassed gaze in their direction.

“I
have
dropped the price for Alice, not that I see it has anything to do with
you three.
” She bristled just for a second, then forced a bright smile onto her face as she looked pointedly back towards Alice. “Now, the price isn’t up for negotiation. Would you like to buy him? You do realise, don’t you, that if you don’t there’ll be plenty who will. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s bought by the first person to see him.”

Scout stood quietly beside Alice, his warm breath on her face. She rested a shaky hand on his neck.

“I… I can’t afford him,” Alice said, dropping her head as the grass in front of her started to blur.

Mrs Valentine arched an immaculately
groomed eyebrow over her dark glasses.

“Oh, now, that
is
a shame,” she said in a sympathetic voice, “but I won’t prolong your agony. The advert goes into the next issue of
Pony Mad
. He’ll be snapped up in no time.”

Alice was still shaking long after Mrs Valentine had disappeared back into the crowd at the showground, her wide-brimmed hat bobbing out of view. She hadn’t gone without asking Alice where she kept Scout. Alice had nearly lied, but anyone local would know where she lived, anyway. She was too stunned to properly take in what had just happened, as around her Mia, Rosie and Charlie all spoke over each other. Alice hugged Scout, then climbed into the saddle feeling numb.

“I thought you had an official loan agreement? I don’t think she can do this if you have!” Mia said crossly as they rode out of the showground
and headed along the bridleways towards Blackberry Farm.

“She promised she’d send one,” Alice explained quietly, “but it never turned up. Mum tried to ring her loads of times but she never answered the phone. We didn’t want to bother her too much because we reckoned she must be busy with Scarlett. I wrote to her once, but she didn’t reply…”

Alice trailed off. After a while she’d stopped worrying about the loan agreement not turning up. After all, permanent meant for ever – at least, that’s what she’d always thought. Until now.

“We can’t just let her turn up like a whirlwind out of nowhere and put Scout up for sale,” Charlie ranted, “not after Alice has done so much with him.”

“And he loves it at Blackberry Farm – it wouldn’t be the same without him!” Rosie agreed. “We
have
to do something!”

“Clearly,” Mia said, “but it’ll have to be really
quick… I think this might be a case for the Pony Detectives!”

“I think you’re right,” Charlie agreed.

“Totally,” Rosie added.

They’d all been excited about finding a new mystery to solve, but a mystery involving one of their own ponies really raised the stakes. They couldn’t afford to fail.

They fell silent as they concentrated, walking their ponies through the woods on a long rein. Alice knew they were up against it, but her mind had gone totally blank. She leaned down and hugged Scout, her arms around his solid neck as he walked along slightly uncertainly, his ears flickering backwards, sensing that something was wrong.

“I know!” Mia suddenly cried. Alice looked up at her, eyes bright with expectation. “I think the first thing we should do is try to change Mrs Valentine’s mind.”

“And how exactly do we do that?” Rosie asked,
looking confused. “She seemed one hundred per cent determined about selling Scout.”

“She might be, but Scout isn’t Mrs Valentine’s pony, remember?” Mia said, starting to get excited as she spoke. “Scout was Scarlett’s pony, and she can’t be much older than us. I know she’s lost interest in ponies, but she might be able to help us persuade Mrs Valentine not to sell Scout if we can show her how much Alice loves him.”

“Yes! And Scarlett’s had him from a foal,” Charlie said, “so she must still have a soft spot for him. It
has
to be worth a shot.”

“But what if Scarlett falls in love with him all over again and decides to keep him for herself?” Alice said, starting to panic as she imagined the reunion and convincing herself that she would lose Scout either way.

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Mia said grimly.

Alice sighed then nodded, knowing Mia was right.

They started to make a plan, deciding to pay Mrs Valentine and Scarlett a visit the next morning. They turned off Duck Lane between a gap in the overgrown hedges, then rode along the rutted track that led to Blackberry Farm’s wooden, slightly wonky gate. Rosie jumped off and hauled the gate open, waiting while the others clattered onto the small square concrete yard. The girls had stabled their ponies together there since Rosie’s parents had inherited the farm the year before. There were eight stables in total in the yard, but they only used four. The others had been converted into a tack room, a feed room and a stable for keeping wheelbarrows, forks and brooms in, with one spare. The girls looked after everything, which Rosie’s mum, an artist, had insisted on from the start. For the girls, it was pony heaven.

The assortment of chickens in the yard squawked and scattered. They regrouped just as Beanie, Rosie’s brown and white patched Jack Russell, flew out of the cottage, barking his
greeting and sending the chickens flapping off again in every direction. Alice looked round at the little yard that was Scout’s home, almost hers during the time she wasn’t at school. She felt numb at the thought of him not being there.

“Do you know where Mrs Valentine lives?” Charlie asked.

Alice nodded.

“It’s 13 Hollow Hill,” she said quietly. “I remember from when I got Scout last year, Mrs Valentine wrote it down for us when Mum and Dad insisted on having contact details in case anything ever happened. We didn’t meet her there, though – we only met her at Dragonfly Marsh.”

“We’ve got a map,” Mia said as they tied up their ponies in the afternoon sun of the little yard. The Pony Detectives had used the map to find Hawthorn Farm, Poppy’s yard, when they were searching for clues over Moonlight’s disappearance earlier in the summer. “We can find it on that.”

The ponies stood quietly, pulling at the haynets which the girls had left up from before they’d ridden to the show that morning. It seemed like a lifetime ago, and as Alice untacked Scout with a heavy heart she wished more than anything that she could go back in time: then she could decide not to go to the show. That way she would never have bumped into Mrs Valentine.

Alice wanted to gallop over to Hollow Hill straightaway so that she could find out as soon as possible whether Scout would be safe. But she knew the others were right – it was too late, and the ponies had done too much that day to go out again. As she headed back to Scout with her hoof pick and sponge and a bucket of warm water, she felt the twist in her stomach again. Scout turned his head to look at her as she walked across the yard towards him, his big trusting eyes watching her quietly.

As Alice leaned down by Scout’s near fore he automatically lifted his leg, nuzzling her back
while she picked out his hoof. She went round all four, patting him after each one. Then she sponged down his neck, back and where his girth had gone. She knew that he could tell something was wrong as he watched her, nudging her arm every now and again.

“I won’t let it happen,” Alice whispered, resting her forehead against his. Alice’s eyes welled up as she felt Scout’s warm breath. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat as he sighed heavily, blinking and shifting his weight. The possibility that one day, very soon, her pony might not be around made her heart break. Along with the three girls, Scout was her best friend and she didn’t know what she’d do without him.

Alice left him and trooped back with the others to the feed room. The comforting smell of sweet molasses rose up as they opened the feed bins and dug their scoops into the pony nuts and chaff, dropping the contents into their ponies’ bowls. While the other three noisily planned the
trip the next day, their voices seemed to fade into the distance as Alice listened to the ponies whickering softly in the yard. Dancer scraped her hoof, her metallic shoe ringing out impatiently as it sparked against the concrete.

Alice ladled a scoop of pony nuts into Scout’s well-worn feed bucket, and she knew that there was no way she could face the world without him in it. She dipped her scoop back into the bin, bringing it out with shaking hands, and seeing the bucket blur as she looked at it. Suddenly, the numbness inside fell away and her breath started to come in jagged sobs. Rosie dropped Dancer’s bucket and put her arm around her, and Alice felt herself crumble as the reality finally hit her.

“We’ll stop Mrs Valentine selling him, Alice,” Mia said, and she and Charlie put their arms around her too. “We’re proper, official Pony Detectives now, remember? We can do this!”

“We’ll stop at nothing!” Rosie agreed.

“This’ll be the easiest problem in the world to
solve,” Charlie added optimistically. “Once we’ve seen Scarlett tomorrow, everything will be sorted.”

“Exactly,” Rosie said, hugging Alice tighter. “Now the Pony Detectives are on the case, Mrs Valentine doesn’t stand a chance.”

Alice sniffed, her head drooping. She knew how lucky she was to have her three best friends with her; she just hoped more than anything that they were right.