The Delaneys of Killaroo 02: Adelaide, the Enchantress by Kay Hooper

Author:Kay Hooper [Hooper, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780553218725
Publisher: Loveswept
Published: 1987-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Five

"Get his hock, Sydney; there's a big white patch."

"Why do I have the end that kicks?" Sydney asked in exasperation, stepping back hastily when Resolute lifted a rear leg in an annoyed and threatening manner.

"Because he's calmer when I'm at his head." Addie worked quickly with the liquid dye, altering her lovely gray horse into a muddy brown one. Resolute, offended as one would be whose bloodlines could be traced back to the origins of his kind, snorted and sidled and threatened to kick Sydney, whom he normally tolerated.

But at last the job was done and Addie and Sydney dashed out of the stall, leaving behind a Resolute who was wet, brown, and unhappy.

"Shane? How're you coming?" Addie asked, crossing the hall to the washing area, where another horse was having its color changed—this one from brown to gray.

"Well, the brown dye comes off," Shane said, briskly hosing down the patient horse and watching rivers of dirty-looking water flow into the drain. "How about you two?"

"Resolute is brown," Addie said, then paused as the distant sound of laughter reached them, along with the alarmed squawking of the public address system. "And I can hear Manda doing her part to divert attention."

They had been lucky that the barn housing Resolute was virtually empty. Two other stables near the far end held horses, but neither was racing today and their grooms, like everyone else in the stable area, had rushed out to watch the ludicrous spectacle of a dozen five- to six-feet-tall emus, each weighing about a hundred and twenty pounds, racing about on the track while they held up the start of the sixth race.

"Now I know why you wanted the truck to look like an ambulance," Shane said dryly. "So no one would notice it parked near the track." He shook his head, concentrating on washing brown dye off a rear leg to reveal the horse's true gray color. "But where on earth did she get the emus?"

"You probably don't want to know," Addie reflected. "I don't want to know. We've got only a few minutes left, Shane. I told the guard at the gate I was just bringing in the horse to tighten a shoe."

"And he swallowed that?"

"Well, I've done it before. My equipment's usually here, and he knows me. But he'll check, of course, to make sure I'm taking a brown horse back out."

"I'm almost done. Is Resolute dry?"

"It shouldn't matter; the trailer's dim inside."

He nodded, then glanced out the small window in the washing area and started laughing. He could see the track clearly from this angle, and the craziness going on out there was hilarious.

"What's she doing?" Sydney asked rather anxiously.

"It looks," Shane said, "as if she's getting men organized in lines to drive the birds back into the truck. And it isn't working."

"I hope she remembered to wear gloves from the moment she got the truck," Addie murmured, using a scraper on the gray horse to squeeze water out of his coat.

"Who'll take the birds back?" Shane asked, kneeling to dry the forelegs of Resolute's double.

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