Trouble on the Wild West Express by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Author:Gertrude Chandler Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Published: 2020-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

“All right, Benny,” Henry said. “I’m going to try and grab the bridles. When I do, you tie the reins to the saddle horns, all right? Once we have the reins, I think the horses will follow.”

The escaped horses weren’t afraid of Henry and Benny and didn’t gallop away. But they did seem to know they were being naughty. It took a few minutes to get close enough for Henry to reach the reins on the nearest horse.

“Got it!”

Once he had the bridle, the horse followed along just fine. It seemed to know it was time to return to the stable. Henry handed Benny the reins, and Benny wrapped them around the saddle horn. Next, they tracked down the second horse. It took as long as the first had, but it was fun to ride up high on a horse. Benny felt like a real, old-fashioned cowboy.

“All right, that’s two of them,” Henry said. “Let’s bring them back to the stable and find the rest!”

Meanwhile, Jessie and Violet continued trotting their horse down Main Street. The horses seemed to have calmed down, and they were now wandering through town and being friendly with the tourists. In exchange, they were getting plenty of pets.

“They sure are loving the attention.” Violet giggled.

“I wonder where Fred is,” Jessie said. They looked but couldn’t see the author anywhere. “It seems like this is just the sort of thing he’d like to see for his book. Horses running wild through town is pretty exciting.”

Jessie and Violet were able to round up a few horses right on Main Street. All the horses they approached were gentle. They collected two horses and were about to return to the stable with them when one of the riders from the Pony Express demonstration walked over.

“I can take those two back to the stable so you can keep tracking down the horses,” he said. “Thanks to you, Henry, and Benny, we’ve tracked down all of them. But I can’t find Sofia. Could you help us one last time and find her, to let her know we’ve rounded up all the horses?”

“Count on us!” Violet said. “Jessie, let’s check down by the train platform. I saw hoofprints leading that way.”

Jessie tapped the reins, and they rode off toward the platform. There was one set of prints in the dirt road, some so clear and fresh that Violet could make out the curved shape of the horse’s shoe.

“Look, there’s a horse up by the train,” Jessie said.

When they got closer, Violet pointed. Sofia’s horse was tied to a hitching post near the back of the train. They could tell it was Sofia’s because it was wearing the mochila.

“What’s it doing out here by the train?” Violet asked. “And where’s Sofia?”

The door to the rear car opened and out hopped Sofia onto the horse’s saddle before plopping down. Jessie was impressed how easily Sofia got on and off her horse. When Sofia saw Jessie and Violet, she looked surprised. Then she smiled.

“No horses out here,” she said.

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