Ghost Rider Read Free Page B

Kate and her friends.
    Kate’s voice abruptly broke into Lisa’s daydream. She was talking about the herd of wild horses and the one she wanted to adopt. Lisa listened with interest.
    “The Bureau of Land Management has to keep down the wild-horse population,” Kate was explaining. “If there are too many horses out there, two things will happen. First, the land won’t support a large number, and some of them will die. Second, they’ll eateverything that’s growing, and the land will be even more barren. That’s why the government likes to make the horses available to people who can give them good homes.”
    “It sounds like a great program,” Carole said.
    “It is,” Kate confirmed. “Both the horses and the land benefit—to say nothing of us lucky ones who get the horses!”
    “So when can we see your stallion?” Stevie asked.
    “The herd has been collecting by the rise across the creek every afternoon recently,” Kate replied. “We should find them there about now.”
    “Just show us the way,” Stevie said. Then an odd look crossed her face. “On second thought, I don’t think you have to. I have the feeling that Stewball knows exactly where to find them. He’s in gear.”
    That was just like Stewball. Once he had an idea in his head, he was as stubborn as Stevie—and as likely to be right about it, too. All the riders decided to let Stewball take the lead. They trotted along a trail that followed a two-lane highway for a good distance, and then Stewball took a right and aimed for a mountain. He certainly seemed to know what he was doing, and when he rounded the base of the mountain and entered a small green valley where Two Mile Creek ran, they found that he was absolutely right. There, drinking lazily from the sparse stream, was a herd of aboutfifty wild horses. The girls drew their horses to a halt and watched.
    It took Lisa’s breath away. She knew about natural herds. She’d read about them. She’d even seen an educational special on them. But she’d never seen one. She’d seen hundreds, even thousands of horses in her life, but she’d never seen one that didn’t belong to someone, hadn’t been trained, coddled, shod, cared for. And here were fifty horses who didn’t belong to anybody. There were no halters, no shoes, no feed boxes, no vets, no riders. These animals were wild. They didn’t live in paddocks and stalls. They didn’t eat processed grains and sugar lumps. They lived here. They lived everywhere. Lisa was stunned by the sight, and she wasn’t alone in her thoughts.
    “Oh.” Stevie sighed. “They’re beautiful.”
    “Where’s the gray?” Carole whispered.
    “Watch,” Kate said.
    The wind shifted then and carried their scent. Some of the mares lifted their heads and sniffed. They whinnied gently. Then the horses began moving around. The mares drank again. And then a pure white head rose, sniffed, and looked. The horse’s ears twitched like antennae, reaching to pick up any sound. The girls were silent, but the horse found them anyway. The stallion called to his brood. At the instant of his call, all the horses in the herd were alert, awaiting his signal. Then,rising as if by magic, the pure white horse jumped and neighed loudly. And then the whole herd began to move, galloping off and away from the riders by the mountainside. The only sound in the desert was the thunder of hoofbeats, and then all that remained was the cloud of dust they left behind.
    “Oh,” Lisa said breathlessly.
    “Just what I was going to say,” Stevie agreed.

“Y OU ’ VE JUST GOT to have him,” Lisa said to Kate as they rode back toward The Bar None. “He’s so beautiful.…”
    “Did you notice the nick in his ear?” Kate asked. “It’s very distinctive. It’s like the imperfection that makes him absolutely perfect.”
    At first Lisa didn’t think that was a very logical description, but as she thought about the horse, she came to think that Kate was right. Part of what