Star the Western Pony by Poppy Shire

Author:Poppy Shire
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

Laura’s heart began to pound. Had she just overheard a plot to steal some of Luke’s cattle?

Chapter 5

Laura heard the men walk back toward the fire. They passed close to where she was lying, and she held her breath. Suddenly one of them muttered crossly.

“What’s wrong?” asked a companion.

“Nothing,” replied the man. “Just a stupid cactus scratching my hand.”

As the footsteps went past, crunching on the dry earth, Laura heard the rattling chink of a spur. She thought there were three men, but it could have been four. Her mind was racing. The men’s voices had been muffled by her blanket, which was tucked up around her ears, so she hadn’t recognized any of the speakers. All she had were two tiny clues—one of the men had scratched his hand, and another was wearing a loose, jangling spur.

She heard the sound of one man mounting a horse, or maybe two. It was so annoying not to be sure! Laura wondered if Star was listening, too, but she didn’t dare call out to her. Soon, the sound of singing started again, drifting on the night air. The rest of the camp grew quiet, and Laura peered out from underneath her blanket. She’d have to wait until morning to talk to Star. She stared up at the millions of stars stretching across the clear night sky. Only one thing was sure: all three or four speakers had been men.

At last, Laura drifted off to sleep again. When she woke up the gray-pink light of dawn streaked the sky. There was a chill in the air, and she shivered. Sitting up, she pushed aside her blanket and tiptoed over to Star.

The cow pony was dozing, resting one hind leg, but she woke up as Laura approached and whickered a friendly hello.

“Star!” whispered Laura, stroking her nose. “Last night I heard some of the men talking. I think they’re planning to steal some of the cattle. Did you hear anything?”

Star pricked her ears. “No, not a thing. What happened?”

Quickly Laura told her everything. Star listened, her nostrils flaring.

“I think I know which ravine they’re talking about,” she said. “I overheard some of them talking about the route ahead yesterday. There’s one place where the trail gets really narrow.”

“That must be it,” agreed Laura. “What can we do? I don’t know who was talking about the plot—though they were all men, so that rules out Jolene.”

Star tossed her head. “Well, maybe you should talk to her.”

“But I don’t think she likes me very much,” Laura pointed out.

Star blew softly into Laura’s blond hair. “She was the only girl before you came along,” Star reminded her. “Maybe she just needs some time to get used to you.”

“We don’t have time,” said Laura. The camp was already beginning to stir. She could see that Carlos was lighting his fire to cook breakfast. “We’ll get to the ravine today, and that’s when the cowboys are planning to steal the cattle!”

“Well,” said Star, “we’ll just have to hope that’s enough time for you to make friends with Jolene.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.