Pony Club Challenge (Woodbury Pony Club Book 2) Read online

  “Yes, over a short distance,” agreed Seb, “but he looks more like a sprinter than a cross-country runner.”

  Lesley finished at a steady pace. Her time was the same as Netti’s, and Sarah was quick to point out the difference in age.

  “You ought to have beaten Nettie by miles,” she told her sister contemptuously. “You’re much older than she is.”

  “But Netti’s tall for her age,” objected Lizzie quickly.

  “And I couldn’t see a thing, my glasses kept misting up,” complained Lesley, producing a handkerchief and polishing the lenses.

  “Oh, you’ve always got some excuse,” snapped Sarah.

  As Alice set off in pursuit of Rupert, Mrs Halford, Lynn and Tina appeared in the field.

  “All finished,” said Mrs Halford briskly. “We’ve locked the pistols in the tack room—Lynne showed me where you keep them—and here’s the key.”

  “Oh thanks.” David put down the stopwatch and took the key. “It was very good of you to come and give them such a splendid introduction to shooting; we’re all most grateful.”

  “That’s all right, I enjoyed it. And they all worked hard. Can I give you a ring about next week, either Monday or Tuesday? Goodbye.” She waved to the pony club members as she bustled away.

  “Thank you,” they called after her, “Thank you very much.”

  “Are either of you ready?” David looked at Tina and Lynne.

  “No, some bit of my shoe’s digging into me,” complained Lynne, sitting down and removing her track shoe to investigate.

  “I’m ready, but I haven’t a clue where I’m supposed to go,” answered Tina. Oliver held the map under her nose and everyone else explained the course at once.

  “For goodness sake let her look at the map in peace.” David sounded irritable. “And are the rest of you ready for the swimming session? We must be in the cars and off to Woodbury the moment Lynne has run, and anyone who’s not there, with swimming gear, will be left behind.”

  “We’ll wait till Rupert comes in and then we’d better collect up our stuff,” Lizzie told Netti as they watched Tina sprinting down the field.

  “Too fast,” said Oliver. “She’ll never keep that pace up.”

  “Alice is going well,” announced Seb, who had returned to his perch on the gate. “She’s coming up to the pond. I can’t see Rupert, he must be in the wood. Alice will be closing up on him if he doesn’t appear soon. That’s funny, there’s still no sign of him.”

  Netti groaned. “Oh Rupert, what have you done now?” She asked as she joined Seb on the gate.

  “How long has he been, David?” asked James.

  “Over four minutes, he should be out in the middle of the stubble. Have you sorted that shoe out, Lynne?” asked David. “Hurry up, you’ve thirty seconds to go.”

  “David, shall I go and look for him?” asked Lizzie anxiously.

  “No, he’ll turn up. Mrs Roberts is in the wood, so if he’s sprained his ankle she’ll wave her red flag for help. On your marks, Lynne. Go.”

  “Isn’t there any sign of him, Netti?” asked Oliver. “He’s going to have the worst time of everyone at this rate.”

  “Alice is out of the wood and coming home at a cracking pace,” said Seb. “But there’s no sign ... Oh, wait a minute, someone’s chasing Alice. It can’t be Sarah, no, I mean Tina, can it?”

  “No, too tall and that’s Rupert’s red and white shirt,” Netti told him. “He looks all right, Lizzie, he’s following Alice home.”

  Oliver sighed. He minded Rupert’s failures more than Rupert did. He had a feeling that elder brothers ought to be heroes, people you could look up to and admire.

  “He’s caught up with Alice, but he’s not trying to pass, he’s running beside her and talking. What a nutcase.” Seb sounded disapproving. “Tina’s slowed up a lot, but she’s nearly at the wood.”

  Rupert and Alice came through the finish, running stride for stride.

  “Alice has tied with Lesley, fifth, three points behind Seb,” announced James.

  “You ought to have sprinted the last bit,” Nettie told her, “you’re not half as blown as I was. But I suppose my silly brother distracted you.”

  “Yes, he did a bit,” Alice admitted. “He was saying mad things and trying to make me laugh.”

  “How long did Rupert take?” Sarah asked David.

  “I don’t know, I didn’t bother to take his time since he wasn’t trying.” David’s voice was cold.

  “I was trying to start with, David. Honestly.” Rupert assumed a conciliatory voice. “But I took the wrong path in the wood, and by the time Mrs Roberts had explained where I was supposed to go and we’d had a chat, Alice was in sight, so I let her go on ahead.”

  “The wood was flagged, the way through was obvious, and no one else went wrong.” David was not to be appeased. “You simply don’t bother to concentrate.”

  “Oh, but I was concentrating, that was the whole trouble,” Rupert explained eagerly. “I was doing exactly as Mrs Halford suggested and trying to visualize a button for ten seconds; that’s why I didn’t see the flags.”

  David gave him an angry glare and turned to watch a very tired Tina jogging home.

  “We’d better collect our swimming things,” said Lizzie. “Come on, Rupert, David says anyone who isn’t ready will be left behind.”

  “He’s furious.” Rupert looked back at David with a puzzled expression.

  “Well, of course he is,” said Hanif. “What do you expect when you fool about?”

  “You think you’re hilariously funny, but you’re not, you’re a stupid oaf,” snapped Lesley.

  “Everyone’s glaring at me,” moaned Rupert.

  “And if you don’t shut up and be sensible, Lizzie and I will probably kill you in a minute,” Netti told him in a suddenly savage voice.

  The Woodbury pool was a new one—in fact, there were two pools. Dropped at the entrance by the mothers, who then drove away to park the cars, David limped to the spectator seats by the deep pool, while the pony club members went to change. When they reappeared, the younger members, shrieking and giggling, made a wild dash for the shallow pool with its wave-making machine and were soon queueing up to whizz down the shute. Seb, sinister in goggles, plunged into the deep pool. Lizzie wandered disconsolately from the coffee bar to the changing cabins looking for Rupert, who had already vanished, and only Alice, Hanif, Lesley and James found David and asked what was happening next.

  “As the pool’s fairly empty I suggest you all go in together and we see how many lengths you can do in three minutes. I’ve brought a stopwatch,” said David. “I’ve been studying the rules and it all seems very free and easy. You can swim any stroke you like, change it as often as you like, start in the water or dive in. The only thing you have to remember is to touch the side of the bath every time you turn.”

  “How do we know when the three minutes are up?” asked Hanif.

  “Well, officially a whistle is blown, but we haven’t brought one so the mothers and I will wave at you. Can you collect the other three older ones, that’s two Wheelers and Seb?”

  “Here, can you look after these?” Lesley handed her mother her spectacles. “And have you seen Lizzie? We want her in the first heat.”

  “Why not have Sarah? She’s a good little swimmer, I’m sure she’d hold her own with the big ones.”

  James collected Seb, Alice found Lizzie, and they decided to begin without Rupert.

  “Is it really only three minutes?” Seb asked David.

  “Yes, as you’re juniors. The seniors do four,” David answered. “Start when I drop my arm. The mothers are going to count the lengths.”

  “I’m starting in the water,” said Hanif, rather shamefaced. “I’m useless at swimming.”

  “It won’t be a proper trial because the other people are going to get in the way,” complained James.

  “How warm is the water?” Alice asked Hanif.

  “You should get in and g
et wet first,” Seb told her. “David, is it O.K. if l make tumble turns?”

  “Yes, provided you touch the side of the bath with some part of your body.”

  “How many points do we get for each length?” asked Lesley.

  “That depends on the length of the pool,” Seb told her.

  “I know that,” Lesley snapped at him.

  “Look, stop talking and let’s get going,” called David impatiently. “Are you ready?”

  They lined up, plunged in, and then ploughed up and down avoiding the other swimmers as best they could. Seb shot ahead at once, his powerful crawl sliced through the water, and his professional-looking tumble turns increased his lead with each length. Seb, far ahead, and Hanif, trailing behind, had to swim on their own, but the other four, evenly matched, raced neck and neck. They were flagging and looking hopefully for waving mothers before the three minutes were up.

  “Seb, you were terrific,” said Alice, climbing out. “How many lengths did you do?”

  “Almost three and a half, but I was baulked once,” answered Seb.

  “I had an actual collision,” said Lizzie, rubbing her arm.

  “How did we do?” asked James, trying to see the scores which Mrs Rooke was writing down.

  “It’s highly complicated,” said David. “You score four points per metre up to fifty metres, and then six points up to two hundred metres when it goes back to four points. So, as it’s a fifty-metre pool, the first length is worth two hundred points; the second, third and fourth, three hundred points each. Which means that Seb gets a grand score of nine hundred and fifty, the two and a half length people get six hundred and fifty, and Harry’s length and a half earns three hundred and fifty. We haven’t counted odd metres.”

  “Your swimming does let you down,” said Mrs Rooke, glaring at Hanif. “You’ll have to do something about that.”

  “But he’s one of the best at shooting, running and riding,” protested Alice. “You can’t expect him to be brilliant at all four.”

  “Not brilliant,” snapped Mrs Rooke, “but he’s letting himself down with a poor performance like that.”

  “Alice, Harry, could you go and round up the rest of them, please? I’d like to see what they can do in the time.” asked David. “And as for improving your scores, I should think if you keep on swimming slightly longer distances than you’ve managed today, you’re bound to do better. It’s no use setting yourselves unrealistic targets.”

  “Oh, do we have to?” moaned Lynne, when Alice told her that David wanted her for a practice.

  “Coming, just one more go,” answered Tina who was queueing for the shute.

  “Must we?” asked Paul indignantly as Hanif dragged him out of the wave pool. “I’m training here.”

  Lizzie rescued Rupert, who had managed to lock his numbered armlet in his locker and couldn’t remember which it was, by pointing out that his was the one above hers.

  “You’re more trouble than all the rest put together, Rupert,” snapped Mrs Rooke when the reason for his lateness had been explained to her..

  “Don’t worry,” Rupert told her soothingly. “It’s all under control; everything has been sorted out.”

  “Oh come on.” David sound exasperated. “You’re now holding up the second heat as well as the first.”

  Rupert missed David’s sign and started late, but being older, he soon overhauled Tina and Paul, then he passed Sarah, swam stroke for stroke with Netti and, gradually drawing ahead of her, caught up with Lynne. He didn’t manage to shake off Lynne until he was into his third length. As he reached the two and a half mark, mothers began to wave that time was up, but Rupert swam on, oblivious of their signals.

  “Tina and Paul were on three fifty,” said David, when the rest of them emerged dripping from the pool. “Netti, you were five hundred, Lynne was five sixty. Remember that once you’ve completed the first length, every metre is worth six points and really go for them.” He turned to the three mothers. “I’m whacked. Shall we go and have a coffee and leave them to practise on their own?”

  Later, the mothers began to round up the pony club members. Mrs Roberts collected the Wheelers and her own children and, saying that David was exhausted and must be taken home at once, sent them off to change.

  David was limping round telling everyone that the next cross-country practice was on Saturday at 9.30 a.m., but when he found Tina he said, “Look, I particularly want you to come. I’m being given a pony, a staid and elderly fourteen-two. A friend of mine thinks I’ll be able to hack him round the farm. There’s not much hope of that at present, but as he jumps and has carried a whole family of children through their pony club years, he might do for the Tetrathlon, so I want you to try him. O.K.?”

  “Me, really?” asked Tina, surprised. “Oh, I’d love to try him, but I don’t suppose I’ll be good enough for a fourteen-two and I’m not much use at any of the non-riding Tetrathlon things.”

  “District Commissioners have to take the long view,” said David. “If I get you all practising now, when you are larger and older you may be some use. Anyway, it’s always good to have a spare pony, and if you’ll ride him on Saturday I shall see how he goes.”

  The Land Rover party left, and Mrs Rooke collected up Lesley and Sarah. Mrs Franklin persuaded Hanif, who was struggling grimly up and down the pool in a vain attempt to increase his speed, that he’d taken enough exercise for one morning and it was time to go, especially as she had promised an English lesson to a Pakistani friend.

  “What did you think of it, Seb?” asked James.

  “It was O.K.” Seb’s voice lacked enthusiasm. “The shooting took so long and we didn’t get nearly enough practice. Twelve people and two pistols just isn’t on.”

  “But it was the first time most of us had shot, and as no one knew the drill, it was bound to take ages,” Alice pointed out.

  “And we’re such a small pony club I don’t suppose we can afford more than two pistols,” added Hanif.

  “I’m going to ask my father to buy me one so that I can practise at home,” said Seb in a determined voice. “A boy at school’s got a really modern German one, far better than those second-hand jobs David’s bought. I’m sure a good pistol makes a huge difference to your score.”

  “Except that Lesley got a cracking score with one of David’s ‘second-hand jobs’,” observed Alice.

  5

  You’re Jealous

  It was Saturday, and Tina felt very nervous climbing up on to blue roan Vulcan. Nervous and hurt, for Paul and Lynne had deserted her, mounting their ponies and riding away down the farm track to Coppice Hill. She’d been afraid that Vulcan would go mad when he found himself alone, but he’d only given her a couple of impatient nudges, as though telling her to hurry up, and now Alice and Harry had arrived and were waiting for her in the lane.

  “You do look grand,” said Alice, as Tina rode out of David’s stableyard. “I’ve never seen you on a big pony before.”

  “I’ve never ridden one. He feels terribly high and wide,” answered Tina, a worried expression on her freckled face.

  “I had to do it the other way round,” said Alice. “When I lived abroad there never seemed to be any ponies, so children rode fifteen-hand horses. When I came back and rode twelve-two ponies it felt very peculiar. They bobbed and scuttled and had such short necks; I kept expecting to shoot over their heads.”

  “I thought David’s doctors told him he’d never be able to ride again, so why is he buying a pony?” asked Hanif.

  “I don’t think he’s buying Vulcan, he’s a present from a friend whose children have outgrown him or something; he said a spare pony might come in useful,” explained Tina.

  “It doesn’t seem fair,” said Paul for the second time as he, Lynne and the two Rookes rode down the farm track to the sunken lane. His small, serious face wore a sulky expression and his grey eyes were dark and brooding.

  “I suppose he picked Tina because she hasn’t a pony of her own,” sugges
ted Sarah.

  “But he knows us much better than Tina, and we live here.”

  “And he knows that if one of us had Vulcan we’d have loaned Tina a pony.” Lynne, whose usually laughing face was red and cross, supported her brother. “Mum and Dad think it’s a shame too, when they’ve done so much for him.”

  “I expect he’s tired of your giggling and fooling about,” Lesley told her unsympathetically. “Neither you nor Paul ever try very hard, and now you’re jealous.”

  “Oh, what a horrible thing to say.” Lynne sounded very upset. “We do try, don’t we Paul?”

  “Don’t pay any attention to her, she’s always like that, really spiteful,” said Sarah. “Come on, let’s leave her behind,” she added, kicking Bowie into a canter.

  “My father’s buying me a pistol,” Seb announced as he joined the group of pony club members waiting by the slip rails. “He said he’d do his best to get one today.”

  “Great,” said Netti, “that means more turns for everyone.”

  “And I’m going to practise like hell. I’m going to get really good,” vowed Seb. “You can come up and have a go if you like, James. We’re living in this cottage at Kiddleworth now. It’s a bit of a mess, my father cooks, I wash up, but we’re not much good at housework.”

  “We might get the whole of the senior boys’ team practising regularly,” suggested James, his face brightening.

  “Oh, don’t be mean, you can’t just have the boys, Seb. That would make you a real chauvinist pig,” objected Netti.

  “And you have to have someone over twenty-one there to supervise,” Lizzie reminded him.

  “My father’ll be there at the weekend.”

  “I agree with Netti, no discrimination on grounds of sex,” announced Hanif. “We are all equal; my mother’s very hot on that, she’s just joined a society to raise the standing of women in Pakistan.”

  “Here’s David,” said Alice as the Land Rover turned into the lane. “Shall I take down the slip rails?”