Gib and the Gray Ghost by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Author:Zilpha Keatley Snyder [Snyder, Zilpha Keatley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 978-1-4532-7190-2
Publisher: Open Road
Published: 2012-10-23T01:13:00+00:00

Chapter 17

GHOST WASN’T A MEAN-NATURED horse any more than Silky was. He was just scared and angry and, Gib found out, definitely head-shy. Even after he’d started being real welcoming when Gib showed up with a currycomb and a pocketful of carrots, he didn’t like having his head touched. At least not by a hand that had anything in it. Right at first he even shied away from a brush if it got too near his head. And the first time Gib tried to put a halter on him things got pretty lively for a while.

When Gib came in carrying the halter Ghost took one look and turned back into the wild-eyed thing he’d been when he first showed up, snorting and rearing and threatening to bite. It took a lot of slow, easy talk and a carrot or two before he would even come close enough to get a good look at the halter. But after he’d shoved it around with his nose he seemed to calm down some, and before long Gib was able to slip it on his head. And when Gib clipped on a lead rope the big gray let himself be led up and down the barn corridor with no fuss at all, except for a few snorts and nickers at the other horses as he passed their stalls. And when Gib brought in a saddle and blanket, things went even more smoothly.

But the next step was the bridle and that was when Gib began to find out where the trouble lay. There was, Ghost told Gib plain as day, no way in the world he was going to let that bit be put in his mouth. And even after Gib reasoned with him for a long time he didn’t look to be changing his mind one little bit.

That night Gib did a lot of thinking about Ghost’s problem. So much thinking, in fact, that he was kind of absent-minded at the dinner table. The rest of them happened to be talking about earthquakes and tornados, but Gib kept forgetting to listen to what was being said. And of course he couldn’t mention what he was thinking about because they’d all promised not to mention any urgent barnyard problems around Hy.

“And where do you suppose our Mr. Whittaker is tonight?” Miss Hooper wanted to know. “Certainly not here with the rest of us. Haven’t heard two words out of him since we sat down.”

“That’s for sure,” Hy said. “I been noticin’ that too. What you been mullin’ over so hard, pardner?”

Gib laughed and said he guessed he’d been woolgathering, all right. “I was listening, though. I heard what everybody was saying about that earthquake in California.”

They all laughed then and Livy said, “That was at least half an hour ago. Just now we were talking about President Taft and before that it was coyotes. Where have you been, Gib?”

When Gib said he didn’t know, Livy said, “Well, I do. Out in the barn trying to get that wild .

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