The End of Summer Page 3

  The major took no notice of her for the most part which was a mercy. He was busy growling at Martin and Jonathon and roaring at the new girl, Patricia who rode well back in her saddle with her legs stuck out forward and useless. But he could hardly ignore Magpie tearing through the little jumping course scattering poles everywhere.

  “What on earth do you think you’re playing at?” he shouted. “Honestly! I would have thought I could rely on you to get round Gay!’

  It was mild really. But that was only because the major was preoccupied.

  She stopped Magpie under the trees and watched Christopher sail smugly round on Crusoe, waiting for Margaret’s turn.

  She could already see what was happening. She had been seeing it all morning; Sonnet going with impulsion; Sonnet arching her neck and filled with energy. She stared at Margaret’s ferocious hair and her grim freckled concentration and wondered idly whether she hated her. How could Margaret be so much better at riding than she was? How could she, when riding was the only thing Gay cared about in the world? She tried those thoughts out anyway, but somehow they didn’t suit her. She watched Sonnet launch herself carefully and powerfully into the air. Riding is just one of those things, she told herself. Some people can do it and some can’t.

  “Of course if I’d known we were going to be jumping I would have brought Cloud. He’s my jumper. Sandy is a show hack really, though he can do other things. Do you always do jumping at rallies? We used to do it as a special class only for the decent people at my old pony club.” Patricia was sat at the trestles in the barn with Christopher.

  “Well not always,” Christopher said. The barn door swung open again, letting in the cold air and a crowd of the youngest children with Dick. And Marion was with them. Patricia was all right he supposed. She was very complimentary anyway. Marion looked tired. “Excuse me,” he said politely to Patricia.

  He grabbed Marion’s elbow. “You got here all right then?” he asked.

  “Well, mostly. I think I’m going to go straight home again though to be honest!”

  “No don’t! Columbine’ll be all right this afternoon. You can ride with me!” The afternoon part of the rally was to be a quiet country ride with no galloping or jumping. Everyone was going, even the little ones.

  Marion laughed weakly. “It’s not her,” she said. “It’s me! But I haven’t decided yet. I’m going to have lunch and see how I feel after that.”

  Margaret felt peculiar. She had been annoyed at having to ride Sonnet instead of Magpie at first, for whatever reason the major had for doing that. She still had no idea what it had been about. But riding Sonnet had actually been incredibly interesting. Sonnet was out of condition, but she was a fantastic pony nonetheless. She had something Magpie lacked, though Margaret wasn’t sure exactly what it was. Perhaps it was just experience. Margaret found she wanted to talk to Gay about it, but couldn’t think how to begin. It was strange. Margaret had always been the loudest of the children in the pony club, the most active. Act first and think about it afterwards, maybe. She had always been afraid of letting time slip away, always rushing to grab first and hold on. Now she felt as if she was out of step with everyone else and could only sit still and watch them with her mouth shut. She watched Gay eating her lunch miserably, not talking to anyone either.

  Susan was supposed to go home for lunch. She was supposed to be at home for lunch; she had never expected to stay the whole morning, but she didn’t want to leave. There was nothing to do at home. Now Noel had gone it seemed as if there was nothing to do at all, anywhere.

  “Oh Tranquil!” Susan said. “Can’t you come home with me and keep me company?”

  “I don’t see why he can’t if you want him to. He’s your horse!” Major Holbrooke’s head appeared from the box next to Tranquil where Dick had put Columbine.

  “Goodness, you made me jump!” said Susan.

  The Major came out of the box and closed its door. “I can’t begin to work out what’s going on with this horse,” he said sadly.

  “Oh, she’s just a baby,” Susan said.

  “That’s not entirely correct. But I meant how she got here. Christopher was riding Crusoe wasn’t he?”

  “Yes he was. Marion brought Columbine. She was supposed to be in the rally, but Columbine got upset and it took her ages to get here, she missed it.”

  “But why did Marion bring Christopher’s horse to the rally?”

  “Because she’s not Christopher’s any more, she’s Marion’s. Marion bought her.”

  “Ah, the penny drops! Or at least one of them does. Perhaps you’d better go before I get even more confused. Are you taking this horse or what? You should be able to manage him in a head collar shouldn’t you?”

  Susan giggled. “I can’t take him though. Dick wants to ride him this afternoon.”

  “Look around you,” the major said, spreading his arms and turning about. “Do you not see any other horses that Dick could ride this afternoon, none of which belong to you? Take your horse home and be happy, Lord knows someone around here ought to be! You can bring him back tomorrow, or the next day, or ring up and Dick can come and get him.”

  Dick filtered into the barn with his ride. None of them had stayed for lunch before. Sam and Isabella had struck up an unlikely friendship and the other three girls clung together. Sebastian hung back, predictably.

  “Come and sit here,” Dick said to him, finding a space on a bench next to James Radcliffe. “Have you brought sandwiches?”

  Sebastian nodded. Dick didn’t have any sandwiches himself, having not thought that far ahead. He should go and find some really, but didn’t want to leave Sebastian. He sat down too, on James’ other side. It was ridiculously noisy in the barn considering there were less than twenty people there.

  “James, this is Sebastian.” It was easy enough to talk to James without Sebastian hearing him. “Can you look after him? He doesn’t know anyone.”

  “Of course!” James said. He looked pleased to be asked if anything. “I saw you with your pony I think, this morning. Is he Welsh?” James asked Sebastian. “He looks amazing.”

  “Thank you,” said Sebastian politely. “Yes he is Welsh. He’s called Idris, I got him last summer. Who’s your pony?”

  Dick was relieved. He sat and breathed and realised he was completely exhausted. And what had he done really? Just watched a crowd of children ride round for an hour or so. That could only be described as pitiful couldn’t it?

  “Where’s your lunch?”

  Dick opened his eyes, which he didn’t remember closing to find Margaret Radcliffe leaning forward to talk to him from the other side of the table.

  “I haven’t got any,” he admitted. “I was just going to go and fetch some. In a minute.”

  “Well don’t bother with that; have some of mine.” She shoved a cheese sandwich across the table.

  “I can’t take your food!” Dick said.

  “Don’t be an idiot,” said Margaret. “You should see how much we get, it’s crackers. Oy James! Hand over some of your spare grub to Dick, else he’ll conk out or something.”

  James looked round startled and then smiled and dug in his bag, pulling out more sandwiches and chocolate as well. “I don’t know how anyone is supposed to eat this much lunch, honestly,” he said.

  “Thank you,” said Dick. It was certainly easier than getting up.

  “Ah, there you are!” Major Holbrooke had somehow crept into the barn without anyone noticing or particularly caring. He clapped a heavy hand on Dick’s shoulder. “Come on, council of war!”

  “Right, we need to think about how we’re going to organise ourselves this afternoon. With this Greenleaf person absent we’re a bit thin on the ground.”

  They were in the stable yard. Major Holbrooke had a cup of tea in one hand and a roast beef sandwich in the other. He was hungry.

  “Where’s Tranquil?” Dick peered into Tranquil’s box anxiously.

  “Susan took him home for a day or so.”
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  “I was planning on riding him.” Dick frowned.

  “She said that.” The major spoke through a mouthful of sandwich. “And I told her not to worry about it. Ride someone else. Ride Echo. He’s all right isn’t he?”

  “He’s all right if I don’t have anything else to think about. I was going to lead two of mine…”

  “No you weren’t. Not in my pony club! They can manage under their own steam or they can go home.” Major Holbrooke looked up indignantly. “We’ll pair them up. The devil of it is that there aren’t as many reliable people as I was expecting. Donald isn’t here and Marion has gone rogue. Who are your most perilous?”

  “Isabella and Sam. They were the ones I was going to lead. And I need to keep an eye on Sebastian too.”

  “Well we’ll put those two with Margaret and Gay.” The major hesitated. “They’ll be all right you know. These ponies play up in the school, but when they are all out together with the others they go along fine. They won’t want to be left behind.”

  “Can Sebastian go with James? They were making friends at lunch. And I suppose Marion will ride with Christopher.”

  “No, I need Christopher for the new girl, whatever her name is. She’s a liability. Marion can go with Jean. Do we need to write all this down?”

  Margaret looked down at Isabella as she followed Christopher and Patricia out of the yard. Isabella’s pony was excited to be going out in such a large group. She was bouncing up and down rather and Isabella was holding on to her mane; she looked excited too. Margaret wasn’t particularly enthralled herself. A quiet hack through the countryside in February babysitting a beginner wasn’t her best idea of fun.

  She glanced back at Gay coming along behind her on Sonnet with her own beginner, a small boy, babbling away at her. At least mine isn’t talking, Margaret thought. Gay looked miserable still. Margaret had tried talking to her after lunch but it hadn’t helped.

  “What did you think of Magpie?” Margaret had asked.

  “He’s nice,” Gay said, looking away.

  Margaret had been expecting and easier route into conversation; Gay usually had a lot to say. “Sonnet is a lovely pony. She’s a great jumper too. I was wondering if you might like to come round and try her over our jumps.”

  “That’s very kind of you, but I’m not sure I would have the time.” Gay had smiled politely and led Sonnet away, clearly not wanting to talk at all.

  Margaret looked out over sodden fields filled with thin mist as she rode along under the dove grey sky; she had plenty to think about. She was a better rider than Gay, she supposed. And she remembered a time when all she had wanted was to be the best rider, better than her sister Evelyn, better than everyone. Now she had her wish she understood how unimportant all of that was. She had been lucky to get Magpie. Magpie had made it all happen. But Gay had Sonnet, so she was lucky too.

  Christopher had enjoyed jumping Crusoe that morning, but this was boring. At least if he had been allowed to ride with Marion he could have had a decent conversation.

  “So don’t you have a horse of your own?” Patricia asked him. “That’s such a shame. You’re the best rider here!”

  “Oh, I don’t mind,” Christopher tried to sound nonchalant. “I like to help people out. Crusoe was a devil to ride when I first got hold of him.”

  “Sandy is a trained show hack of course, but Cloud, my showjumper is very temperamental. He wouldn’t cope with this plodding along well at all!”

  Christopher wondered if the Major, riding just ahead, could hear Patricia; she had a fairly loud voice. He wondered if Patricia’s Cloud really was temperamental, and if he was much of a jumper. You couldn’t tell anything from what people said.

  “Perhaps I could school him for you,” he suggested. After all you never know your luck.

  “Oh, he doesn’t need schooling; he’s a born jumper. But you could try him if you like, I suppose.”

  Marion was surprised to find that Columbine seemed to like walking along with Jean and Biddy. She really had wondered whether she ought to just go home, but that thought in itself was so daunting, and so many people had tried to persuade her to stay she had given in. Now she was pleased. Everyone was walking in a leisurely fashion; they had become fairly spread out. Jean nattered away about what had happened in the morning and how pleased she had been with Biddy’s jumping, it was almost restful. There was plenty of sunshine, but everything was damp, sparkling, and the ground was very soft. Columbine smelled something strange and stopped, ears pricked, head right up. But Biddy didn’t care about whatever it was and carried on along. Marion sat still and did nothing, and Columbine plunged forward, not wanting to be left on her own.

  Sebastian had blanked this part out of his mind when he had been thinking about the rally in the days leading up to it. It was the worst part of all. Here they were out in the open wildness of the countryside with nothing to fence them in. They were heading up a long grassy slope towards the woods where who knew what strange creatures lurked? And with every step he could feel all of his pony’s strength held in check; waiting.

  He was glad to be a pair with James though. It had been all right to talk to James during lunch about things such as where one lived and went to school and brothers and sisters and all that. Now they were out James seemed to have as little interest in conversation as Sebastian. He rode his neat chestnut pony in a kind of silent reverence. Sebastian was impressed. Perhaps he and James could be friends. It was strange to think that too. How could he dare to think about another day, the future? He had to get to the end of this one first.

  “Here’s our canter,” the major called. The ride halted and listened. “We will stay in our pairs and not overtake the people in front. It will be a steady canter. Anyone who wants to gallop will have to control their urges and their ponies until another day. If you don’t want to canter there is absolutely no need to do so. Stay here with Dick and we’ll wait for you at the other side of the wood.”

  The only person who didn’t want to canter was Sebastian. Dick was alarmed at the idea of Isabella and Sam cantering by themselves, but he had to admit that Clover was behaving very well and Sam had only fallen off once so far. Sebastian’s face was white under his frown. Dick had already spoken to him about waiting behind and James had said he would wait too. There was nothing to worry about at all except Echo.

  Dick was annoyed with himself for not eating lunch. He wasn’t hungry exactly. He still never felt hungry, but he understood the way not having eaten was affecting his strength and his mood. Echo seemed to understand it too. He snatched his head up and twitched his tail, showing how fed up he was not to be cantering off with everyone else.

  Dick forced himself to smile for the boys, whose ponies were both behaving impeccably. “I expect we can start now,” he said.

  Neither James nor Sebastian said anything in reply. They just set off following Echo under the winter trees the way the rest of the ride had gone.

  It was a lovely place, even though it was so familiar; Dick rode there almost every day. The ground was soft but the layers of leaf mould and pine needles meant it wasn’t muddy, perfect for galloping. And there was nobody around. At least, it seemed that way, peaceful and still, until a gunshot ripped through the air, almost underneath them, turning everything to chaos.

  Sebastian hadn’t believed there was a way to feel worse than he already did, even though the reason he felt so awful was because he was waiting for something worse to happen.

  Idris shied. The sound of the gunshot was so loud and so sudden it must have hurt his ears; it hurt Sebastian’s ears. Rocket shied too, but Echo went wild. He flung himself into the air, so that Dick was chucked almost upside down, losing his hat in the process. And then Echo was off, bolting terrified into the undergrowth, not along the ride at all, making his own path with Dick clinging on somehow.

  Rocket was ready to dash away after him, but James managed to hold on. Idris stood still, breathing in great shuddering huffs. Sebastian would
not have been surprised to find he was breathing that way himself. His ears rang still.

  “What do we do?” he asked. His voice sounded strange in the silence.

  “Go after them,” said James.

  Echo wasn’t interested in stopping it seemed. Dick had managed to get back on, without stirrups, but in the saddle at least. There were a lot of trees but Echo seemed to find a path through them without doing very much slowing down. Dick found it interesting to note that he wasn’t scared; there wasn’t time to be scared. He strengthened his seat and took a pull on one rein as hard as he could to which Echo’s response was to jerk his head the other way with double Dick’s strength and at the same time twist his body so violently there wasn’t any staying on. None at all.

  Sebastian and Idris trotted through the trees after Rocket. James and Rocket were incredibly calm, and Idris was calm too. There was no sign of elemental magic, or not any kind that Sebastian had imagined anyway. Echo seemed to have taken everybody else’s panic away with his own.

  “I think this is the way they went,” James said. “I know where we are, we won’t get lost. Oh!”

  They came over a rise and down a bank. Sebastian had never ridden anywhere so wild before. The trees opened out a little and there was Dick lying in the mulch, not moving.

  “Dick!” James was off Rocket and kneeling on the ground in no time. He shouted at Dick and shook him but nothing happened. Dick continued to lie there.