Read Online Mystery Ride by Bonnie Bryant - Free Book Online

you want to give away our clue. I knowit’s important to be responsible, but let’s not go overboard.”
    “Sorry,” whispered Carole.
    From down the aisle came Max’s voice. “Riders who are done mucking can start tacking.”
    “We’re going to be late,” said Stevie.
    “What should we do?” said Lisa.
    “We have to leave the clue where we found it,” Carole said.
    Lisa knew this was true, so she put the poem back on the hook.
    “Maybe we
should
tell the others,” Carole whispered.
    Stevie rolled her eyes.
    From all around them came the sound of horses snorting as their riders began to tack them up.
    “We’ve got to go. Otherwise we’ll be the last out,” Stevie said.
    At that moment Stevie heard Starlight whinnying. Clearly the horse wanted to hit the trail.
    “I guess we’d better go,” Carole said.
    “That’s more like it,” Stevie said. “Let’s get a move on.” She and Carole hurried out of Nickel’s stall.
    Lisa remembered that she hadn’t had time to tell them about the mystery rider at the edge of the woods or the second piece of red yarn. Hurriedly Lisa finished cleaningNickel’s stall and then went to saddle Prancer. This was all pretty confusing, she thought. Maybe MW stood for Mixed-up Weekend. Lisa lifted the saddle onto Prancer’s back and fastened the girth.
    “Lisa!” came Stevie’s voice from the door of Prancer’s stall.
    Lisa looked up and saw that Stevie’s hazel eyes were shining. “We’re having an emergency meeting of The Saddle Club right now!” Stevie said. “Meet us in Nickel’s stall immediately.”
    Two meetings of The Saddle Club in five minutes! It was all kind of nutty. Nonchalantly, so as not to attract attention, Lisa wandered back to Nickel’s stall.
    When she got there, Carole and Stevie were waiting.
    “I’ve made a decision!” Stevie said dramatically. “I’ve thought things through and I know what The Saddle Club has to do.”
    Carole grinned. Stevie was great at figuring out reasons for doing exactly what she wanted. Undoubtedly Stevie was about to come across with the world’s most ingenious reason for not telling about the note.
    “It’s not fair to the younger kids to hide the note,” Stevie said. “They deserve a chance at solving the mystery. And if they haven’t seen the note, what chance have they got?”
    “I agree one hundred percent,” said Carole. “But there is one drawback. If we tell them, Veronica will find out.”
    “That’s just it,” Stevie said triumphantly. “I
want
Veronica to find out. I don’t want to beat her the easy way. I want her to know everything. Only then can we prove how truly dumb she is.”
    “Hmmm,” Carole said. “I think this is a truly Stevian move. Now Veronica will have no excuses.”
    “That’s it,” Stevie said. “She will have to admit that The Saddle Club has brawn
and
brains.”
    “Good thinking,” Carole said. But then she suddenly got cold feet. It was nice to be fair, but who wanted to be fair to Veronica?
    “Maybe we should give this more thought,” Carole said.
    “After all, we found it,” Lisa said.
    “No,” said Stevie heroically. “We are going to share this note with everyone. Anything less would be unworthy of The Saddle Club.”
    “It isn’t easy being selfless,” said Carole with a giggle.
    “Anyway, we don’t have to tell them about the bar-heeled shoe prints,” said Stevie.
    “This is true,” Carole said.
    “We don’t have to tell them about this, either,” said Lisa, pointing out the piece of red yarn. Chances were thatwhen the other riders heard about the poem, they’d get so excited they’d forget to look for other clues.
    The Saddle Club left Nickel’s stall. As they walked down the aisle, they saw that most of the riders were nearly finished tacking up. From the snorts and pawing of the horses it was clear that they were ready to go.
    Max was standing outside the tack room enjoying the hum of riders getting ready.
    “Max, you’ve