Abbey Leads the Way (3 page)

When Snail lifted his head, Abbey knew it was now or never. She fiercely rubbed away her tears. ‘Snail! Let’s go,’ she yelled and gave his flanks a real whack with her heels.

This time, Snail did go – straight into a trot. Abbey remembered to rise out of her saddle. She felt like a professional rider!

‘Faster, come on!’ Abbey shouted. She kept nudging Snail’s flanks, and then the rhythm of his hooves changed.

Snail wasn’t trotting anymore. He was going fast. Snail was cantering!

Abbey sat back in the saddle, feeling like a champion. She had shown that lazy, slow Snail exactly who was boss. As she shot past her friends, Abbey’s face was one huge grin.

In her excitement, Abbey pulled her reins left and Snail cantered down a new path. The ground was rocky and uneven.

During the bumpy ride, Abbey’s helmet loosened a little. She could feel it bouncing around on her head, and it kept flopping down over her eyes. Abbey knew this was no time to let go of the reins to tighten her helmet strap. So she just gripped the reins tighter and yelled at Snail to slow down.

Hooves thundered behind Abbey.

‘Stop!’ Matilda shouted.

Abbey pulled the reins but nothing happened. She was still pushing Snail’s flanks with her heels.

‘Stop nudging him,’ Matilda yelled. ‘Pull the reins, lean back.’

Straightaway Snail stopped.

Abbey pushed up her helmet and tightened the chinstrap. ‘Matilda, that was awesome!’ she said, grinning.

Abbey was surprised at Matilda’s serious face. She was just about to ask Matilda what was wrong when the other girls trotted up.

‘Abbey, are you OK?’ Kate asked. ‘You looked like you were about to fall off!’

Abbey looked at her friends’ worried faces, and she realised how scared she’d have felt if Emma, Maddie or Olivia had ridden off quickly. They were beginner riders, too. Something could have happened.

The excitement of her wild ride faded. ‘I’m OK,’ Abbey said, and then she fibbed, ‘Snail just took off.’

‘Oh, I almost forgot,’ Olivia said. ‘Look what I found in a puddle.’ She held out a muddy mobile phone.

‘That’s the one Dad gave me,’ Matilda said. ‘It must have fallen out of my pocket.’

Matilda played with the phone as the girls continued riding slowly along the path.

‘It’s not working,’ Matilda told Kate.

Abbey felt really bad. If she hadn’t raced off, the phone wouldn’t be broken.

Kate gave a shout. ‘Matilda, is that the stream we were riding along?’ she asked, pointing to the glittering water up ahead.

‘Oh, yes, it must be,’ Matilda said, looking up from the phone. ‘I haven’t been down this path before, but maybe it does take us back to the stream path.’

When they reached the water’s edge, Abbey thought the stream was much wider and faster flowing than before. She was just wondering if they had joined the wrong path when she saw a bridge up ahead. Matilda’s dad had told them about that.

‘I don’t think this is the right bridge,’ Matilda said, pulling Cody to a stop. ‘I remember it being wooden.’

‘Perhaps the wooden one was replaced with a metal one,’ Emma said. ‘It looks new.’

‘Dad didn’t say anything about that,’ Matilda said. ‘Did he, Ab?’

Abbey shook her head.

‘What did he say,
exactly
?’ Kate asked.

‘He said after the bridge follow the stream path around to the right until we reach the old oak tree,’ Matilda replied.

‘Let’s do that then,’ said Kate.

‘Maybe we should just go back the way we came,’ Matilda suggested.

‘No, no,’ Kate said firmly. ‘We should follow your dad’s instructions.’

Emma, Olivia and Maddie nodded, and then Matilda did, too. That
did
sound like the right thing to do. Only Abbey wasn’t sure. She didn’t say anything, though.

The girls continued riding along the path. After a few minutes it turned to the right.

‘Just like your dad said,’ Kate smiled.

‘Yes,’ said Matilda, sounding relieved, ‘we should be about fifteen minutes from the farmhouse now.’

‘Good,’ Maddie said, pointing to the sky. ‘Those grey clouds don’t look friendly.’

After ten minutes, Matilda pulled Cody to a stop. ‘I don’t remember the stream ever being this wide and fast flowing,’ she said.

‘There has been a lot of rain lately,’ Emma said. ‘Maybe the banks have overflowed.’

Matilda dismounted and went to the water’s edge to take a closer look.

‘Oh, no. This isn’t right. The water isn’t overflowing the banks. I don’t recognise these rocks or trees either,’ Matilda said. ‘I think we’re lost.’

Matilda pulled out the phone. It still wasn’t working. The girls had left the farmhouse two hours ago and they were starting to feel tired and worried. Kate decided they should stop to work out what to do next, so they dismounted.

‘We could go back the way we came,’ Matilda suggested again.

‘No way,’ Emma said. ‘That will take ages.’

‘If Abbey hadn’t ridden off down the wrong path, we wouldn’t be lost now,’ Olivia grumbled.

‘Abbey’s pony bolted,’ Matilda said hotly. ‘It’s not her fault.’

Tears pricked in Abbey’s eyes.

‘That’s right, it’s not,’ Emma said. ‘It’s
your
fault, Matilda, for not listening to your dad’s instructions.’

‘Hey! Don’t blame Matilda!’ Abbey blurted out. ‘I made Snail canter. I wanted to go fast and now we’re lost. It’s my fault. All of it.’ Tears rolled down Abbey’s cheeks. ‘I’m a terrible rider and a terrible friend for making everyone worried and angry and lost,’ she sniffed. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Matilda gave Abbey a big hug. ‘It’s OK, Ab,’ she said. ‘And you’re not a terrible rider. You handled yourself really well on Snail.’

‘Really?’ Abbey said. She felt much brighter knowing Matilda wasn’t cross at her.

With her sadness clearing, Abbey realised for the first time just how very worried Matilda looked.

‘Oh, Ab. What are we going to do? I was supposed to look after everyone, and now we’re lost,’ Matilda said, frowning.

A raindrop fell on Abbey’s nose. Then another, and another. All the girls squealed. Then Abbey remembered the rain ponchos in her backpack. She passed them out to her friends.

‘Good thinking, Ab,’ Matilda said, pulling on a green poncho.

As Abbey pulled out the last poncho, a folded sheet fell out.

Matilda picked it up. ‘Abbey, you brought a map?’

‘Yes, I brought a few things, actually,’ Abbey replied.

Soon the girls were sitting on the roots of a tree, nice and dry in their ponchos, eating the dried fruit Abbey had brought with her. They all felt a little better.

‘So, Kate, what should we do now?’ Olivia asked.

All the girls looked hopefully at Kate for the answer. Kate
always
knew what to do. But she shook her head – not this time.

Abbey opened the map and pulled out her keyring compass.

Emma gasped. ‘Wow! You really are prepared.’

Abbey pored over the map, concentrating. She looked around them, back at the map and at her compass a few times.

Finally, Abbey looked up. Five hopeful faces were staring at her.

‘The compass says we’re south-west of Mount Padbury,’ Abbey said, ‘which makes me think that we’re here.’

The girls leaned in to see where Abbey was pointing on the map.

‘Wight River?’ Kate asked. ‘Is that this water here?’

‘I think so,’ Abbey said. Then, feeling more confident, she added, ‘Yes, yes. It must be.’