The Ponies of Bunts by Marjorie Mary Oliver & Eva Ducat

Author:Marjorie Mary Oliver & Eva Ducat [Oliver and, Marjorie Mary & Ducat, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jane Badger Books

12

A Game Of Hare And Hounds

Early one morning, about a week after John’s ride, Jenefer joined Miss Fairfax and the children in the stable-yard brandishing a letter above her head.

“How’s this for an idea?” she cried. “Major Dudley wants us to have a game of Hare and Hounds on horseback.”

This proposal was greeted with shouts of approval from the children. They had never attempted anything of the kind, and immediately fell to planning how it should be played. They had reached the point of wondering what ponies they should ride, when Miss Fairfax said unexpectedly:

“If it means laying a trail of paper I don’t think I can allow it. I am terribly sorry, children, but throwing paper about the countryside is a thing I dislike more than anything.”

The children’s faces fell, and they looked imploringly at Jenefer. Surely she would think of something!

She said quickly: “I don’t see why we need throw paper about. We can play it like a treasure hunt, and tie clues to gates or trees.”

“Yes, that would be quite all right,” said Miss Fairfax, to the children’s relief, and they once more fell to discussing plans.

None of the children had seen a sign of Major Dudley since the Gymkhana, he had entirely absented himself, so when he appeared at Bunts the next day they fell upon him with cries of satisfaction, and all began at once asking him where he had been, what he had been doing, and why he had not been to see them sooner. He was the centre of a babel of voices and questions.

He shot a quick look at Jenefer before attempting any answer. There was a moment’s pause, while they smiled at one another as if they shared a secret, and then Jenefer said with rather a heightened colour: “Don’t pester Major Dudley with so many questions all at once. Be merciful; he has come to settle about the run tomorrow.”

“We will have Miss Jenefer for a hare,” said he, still smiling and looking at her; “then we shall be sure of a good run.”

“Oh no!” cried all the children, “we could never catch Miss Jenefer.”

“Well, the other hare shall be John,” said she. “If John is caught, I am caught. Is that fair?”

They all agreed that John, who had only been riding a few weeks, was a big enough handicap for anyone.

“But,” said Jenefer to Major Dudley, “if I am to be a hare, you will have to take charge of the hounds; and you shall have Diana as a handicap. You will be in honour bound to collect all your hounds at each check, and must not start for the next clue until they have all turned up.”

This was agreed, and Jenefer said:

“Well, then, that is all arranged. The hares will start at two o’clock tomorrow afternoon, John. And we will have twenty minutes’ start.”

John had never felt so important before. When he and Diana woke the next morning, and remembered that they were actually going to ride in a Hare and Hounds, they felt that real life at Bunts was better than their dreams.

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