儿童英语读物 A Horse Named Dragon CHAPTER 8 A Flashlight Night

The children lay awake in their bunks 2. One hour passed. And another. But sleep would not come. Henry’s back was sore from digging the fence posts. His face and arms stung from the locust 3 branch scratches.



Violet thought about the woman whose horse, Buttercup, was stolen. She thought about the flyers and hoped her drawing of Dragon was good enough to help find him.



Jessie’s pillow was wet with tears. Who would steal Dragon? Was he all right?



Benny thought about the goldfish in the horse’s drinking water. He thought about the little brown pony 5 who liked being sprinkled with the hose. He thought about the skinny red-haired man who brought Honey and Bunny home.



“What license 6 plate has a picture of a cowboy riding a bucking 7 bronco?” he asked. Benny forgot he was supposed to be sleeping.



Henry peered down from his bunk 1. “Where did you see that?” he whispered.



“On the blue pickup 8 truck that brought Honey and Bunny back.” Benny closed his eyes and pictured the license plate. “The state’s name had a W and a Y in it.”



“Wyoming,” whispered Violet.



“Is Wyoming near Connecticut?” asked Benny.



Jessie groaned 9. As soon as Benny could read a little better, she would teach him geography. “Wyoming is halfway 10 across the United States from here,” she said. “When we get home, I’ll show you on the map.”



“I guess we’re awake,” said Henry, switching on his flashlight. Three more flashlights switched on. Henry flashed his light at Jessie. “Didn’t you tell me a neighbor brought Honey and Bunny back?”



“Yes.” Jessie sniffed 11. “Alyssa said the man found them in his pasture.”



Henry clicked his flashlight on and off. “Why would a neighbor here in Connecticut have Wyoming license plates?”



The children chased each other’s lights around the ceiling. “Cookie said she didn’t know this neighbor,” said Violet. “That he must have just moved here.”



“That could explain the Wyoming plates,” agreed Henry. “Come to think of it, Bucky told me he never saw the neighbor before.”



Jessie swooped 12 big circles around the wall with her light. “What do we really know about Bucky? When I went looking for Dragon, I saw Bucky standing 13 near the fence with a bunch of horses. What if he spilled the oats so the horses would come to the fence? What if he rigged that fence to open?” A shiver went through her. “Dragon could have gone to eat the oats, and a friend of Bucky’s could have come and stolen him.”



“Bucky told me he grew up around here,” said Henry. “He moved away when he was eight, and he just came back.”



Benny held his flashlight under his chin. It made him look scary. “Maybe Bucky came back to steal Cookie’s horses,” he said.



Violet traced her light along the ceiling. Suddenly, she sat up, gasping 14. “I just thought of something.”



“What, what?” they all demanded.



“Okay, pretend we wake up tomorrow morning and find a strange dog right here in the bunkhouse. How do we know who it belongs to?”



“Dog tags?” asked Benny.



“No tags,” said Violet. “Just dog.”



“Then, we wouldn’t know whose dog it was,” said Jessie. “We don’t live around here.”



“Exactly!”



“So?” asked Benny.



“Sooooo,” said Violet, “the man who brought Honey and Bunny back said he found them in his pasture. But he’s never been to the Dare to Dream Ranch 4. How did he know they belonged here?”



“Horse tags?” said Benny, giggling 15. He always giggled 16 when it was far past his bedtime.



“I’m serious,” Violet said.



“He couldn’t have known,” said Jessie. “What if he’s not a neighbor at all? What if he’s a thief?”



“He’s not,” Henry yawned. “Because thieves steal things.” He yawned again, which made everyone else yawn. “Thieves don’t bring things back.”



“Like the thief who stole my new camera,” said Jessie.



“I’ll bet it was that man out at the old barn,” said Benny. “He didn’t like you taking pictures of the rescue horses.”



“It can’t be him,” said Violet. “Cookie said that Slim’s volunteers stay out at the old barn. They never come to the main house. The camera thief has to be someone who wouldn’t look suspicious walking into Cookie’s office.”



“Like Cookie?” asked Benny. The others groaned. “Like us?”



Violet sighed. “It would have to be someone who comes in and out a lot, like Slim or Alyssa, Kurt or Bucky.”



Henry yawned. “I saw Slim driving off to buy medicine for the horses,” he said. “So it couldn’t be him. But I don’t know where Kurt went after we fixed 17 the fence. And I don’t know where Alyssa was before she took us on the trail ride. And Bucky could have been anywhere.”



The children felt sad. They didn’t want to accuse someone they knew of stealing the camera. But none of them could think who else it might be.



The weary children switched off their flashlights and pulled their blankets tight. One by one they fell fast asleep. Benny struggled to stay awake. But his eyelids 18 finally grew heavy, too.



Smoke! The smell of it woke the children at dawn. They leapt from their bunks and ran to the window. “There!” cried Violet, pointing to an orange glow in the distance. They raced to the ranch house to tell Cookie. She was already busy in the kitchen baking biscuits for breakfast.



“It’s all right,” she told them. “Kurt and the men are at the fire pit. Every few days, they burn brush at sunup, when the air is still. That keeps the fire from spreading. If you like, you can ride out and take a look-see before breakfast.”



The children quickly dressed and saddled up, then rode out across the ranch until they reached a big open field. A powerful fire roared in the middle. Ranch hands tossed old branches and brush into the flames. They wore kerchiefs over their mouths and noses. Kurt drove a tractor in a wide circle around and around the fire. A big rake hooked to the back of his tractor raked the dirt to keep the fire from spreading. The children’s horses snorted and backed up nervously 19. “This must be where Kurt brought the locust branch that crushed the fence,” said Henry.



Violet thought of her sketch 20. “Henry,” she said, “there are only three big trees near that fence. And they are all maple 21 trees. There isn’t a locust anywhere near there. Someone brought the locust branch there. Someone dropped it on the fence.”



They watched Kurt driving the tractor. The ranch manager saw the children and drove over. He pulled his kerchief down. His face was sooty from the smoke. The ends of his blond moustache drooped 22 from the heat.



“Get those horses away from here,” he said, scowling 23. “Did Alyssa send you out here?”



“Alyssa?” asked Jessie.



Kurt snorted in disgust. “She doesn’t even know that horses can panic around smoke. She’s the worst wrangler 24 I’ve ever seen. If Cookie had hired my friend for the job, this ranch would be run right! Now, get those horses away from here.” He pulled up his kerchief and drove the tractor back to the fire.



The children rode slowly back to the ranch house. “Do you think Kurt turned Honey and Bunny loose?” asked Jessie. “To make it look like Alyssa couldn’t take care of the horses?”



“He did blame her for letting them escape,” said Violet.



Henry looked at the scratches on his hands. “Honey and Bunny didn’t have any scratches. Which means they escaped before the branch fell on the fence. Kurt could have cut the fence wire, turned the horses loose, then dropped the branch on the fence.”



“And maybe he stole Dragon to make Alyssa look even worse,” said Jessie.



“Shouldn’t we tell Cookie?” asked Violet.



“We have no proof,” Henry said. “We need to think of a way to find some.”