Plenty of Ponies, page 13
When they reached home the Esmonds found their father in the stableyard. He seemed to be discussing the habits and emotions of the common ant with Carter.
“Hallo,” he said to his family. “I hope you had a pleasant morning.”
“Yes, it was lovely,” said Tina.
“No, it was awful,” replied Paul.
“It was all right for Julian and Tina, they were ‘tinies,’ ” said Charlotte, “but we caught it.”
“We weren’t ‘tinies’,” said Julian indignantly, “we were middling people.”
“It’s very depressing,” said Lewis. “Howard never stops lecturing us.”
“Oh dear, I hope my pupils don’t find that depressing,” said the professor. “But seriously, I thought that you attended these rallies to learn.”
“Well, we do really,” said Charlotte, “but we seem get most of the cursing; more than any one else.”
“I expect you need it,” said the professor. “After all, to go and not to learn would be a waste of time; to be perfect would merely embarrass your poor Colonel and, let me remind you, one rarely bothers to curse the utterly hopeless; one sighs, and leaves them to stew in their own juice.”
10
Jackanapes
Mrs. Esmond was to arrive home between tea and dinner, and most of the day was spent preparing for her return.
Maddo and Francine, singing gaily, spring-cleaned her bedroom, and the three elder Esmonds caught the bus into Oxford armed with an enormous shopping list. Julian and Tina had arranged to teach Arthur that morning, and they were very annoyed when they realised that they couldn’t go to Oxford with the others, but Lewis, Charlotte and Paul were secretly delighted because besides buying flowers, grapes and books, they had all the household shopping to do and they considered that quite enough without being dragged to pet shops, made to talk to cart-horses, keeping an eye on Julian, who was inclined to lose himself, and going back to all the shops where Tina had left her gloves, purse or shopping. Anyway, as Paul said, there wasn’t room in most shops for five Esmonds. There certainly wouldn’t have been room for all five of them in the tiny saddler’s shop where Paul bought the Turk’s standing martingale and Lewis a tin of saddle soap.
Tina and Julian were very pleased with their pupil’s progress. He learned to rise at the trot and he could steer Frosty where he wanted at the walk, unless she definitely wanted to go somewhere else. “You’re getting on jolly well,” Julian told Arthur. “Won’t the others be surprised when they see him, Tina?”
“Yes, frightfully,” said Tina.
“When can I ’ave a gallop?” inquired Arthur.
“Well, you haven’t cantered yet,” said Tina.
“You know,” said Tina to Julian when Arthur had gone home to his lunch, “he’ll soon be good enough to come out for rides and it’s going to be awful if only one of us can go with him; I think we ought to borrow Jackanapes.”
“I’m sure he’d be too fresh for Arthur,” said Julian.
“Yes, but we could ride him and October, and we could let Arthur have Frosty,” said Tina. “Don’t you think it’s a good idea?” she asked, when Julian didn’t say anything.
“Yes,” answered Julian, “I think it’s a terribly good idea, only I must ride Frosty sometimes; I don’t want her getting an inferiority complex.”
“Yes, of course you must ride her,” agreed Tina, “but there’s no need for Arthur to ride every day and, as soon as he’s good enough to ride Jackanapes, you can ride her all the time.”
“Of course it would be terribly good for me to ride another pony besides Frosty,” said Julian; “do you think we shall be allowed him?”
“I don’t see why not,” replied Tina. “But it’s no good asking Father, he’s so vague and the others are such pessimists; I think we’d better ask Mummy, not to-night of course, but to-morrow.”
“Yes, I suppose that’d be best,” said Julian.
But, when their mother was home and had been told all that had happened in her absence, they found very difficult not to ask about Jackanapes; especially as every one was in such a good temper. Francine and Maddo sang as they cooked a celebration dinner; Paul tried to lend Lewis his best tie, and when Tina confessed that she had lost one of Charlotte’s gloves at the Pony Club rally Charlotte only laughed. Julian, hearing the familiar patter of Extra’s paws coming upstairs and rushing with a quaking heart to grab him, came face to face with his father on the landing, but the professor only said, “Shut him in the nursery for now; we’re just going to drink your mother’s health in champagne.”
The champagne was the last straw. Though Tina and Julian weren’t allowed much, it was enough to loosen their tongues and enfeeble their resolution, and when their father and elder brothers and sister were having dinner, they decided that they could wait no longer to ask about Jackanapes. Mrs. Esmond had finished her dinner; she was sitting up in bed wearing a blue corduroy bed-jacket and reading a book. “Hallo,” she said when they appeared, “I thought you’d gone to bed.”
“We started to go,” said Julian, “and then we wanted to ask you something.”
Tina, who had been looking at her mother’s short golden hair with envy, asked absent-mindedly, “Can I cut my plaits off, Mummy?”
“That wasn’t what we came to ask,” said Julian, before Mrs. Esmond could reply, “you’ve drunk too much champagne.”
“Oh, I haven’t,” said Tina. “I only had the same as you, which wasn’t at all fair, considering that I’m two years older. Anyhow, you can’t talk about other people drinking too much, look what you were like when you had all that brandy the day you fell in the river.”
“That was different,” said Julian. “Anyway it was Lewis’s fault for giving me too much or yours for fetching the wrong kind of brandy.”
“Oh, do shut up,” said Tina, “how can I ask Mummy about Jackanapes when you keep chattering?”
“What do you want to know about Jackanapes?” asked Mrs. Esmond.
“Well, Mr. Mullins said he’d lend him to us,” explained Tina, “but Paul said we didn’t need another pony; but now Arthur’s getting good we want to take him out for rides and we thought if we borrowed Jackanapes, Julian and I could take it in turns to ride him and October, and Arthur could have Frosty. Do you think we could have him?” she asked anxiously: Mrs. Esmond rested her forehead on her hand for a moment, then she said, “Well, I can’t think of any reason why you shouldn’t have him, can you?”
“No,” answered Julian promptly.
“We’ve got plenty of hay,” Mrs. Esmond went on. “He lives out, I suppose?”
“Oh yes,” said Tina.
“And he doesn’t buck or rear or anything?” asked Mrs. Esmond.
“Well, I should think he’s a bit fresh at the moment,” said Julian, “you see he’s had an awfully long holiday, but Mr. Mullins said that he was very well behaved and jumped like a stag.”
“Well, Paul can always ride him first if he seems terribly fresh,” said Mrs. Esmond. “Of course, there isn’t much of these holidays left, but I suppose you might as well have him. At least you’ll know then if you want to borrow him for Easter; provided, of course, that Mr. Mullins offers him to you again.”
“Thanks awfully,” said Tina.
“Oh, hurray!” said Julian, “won’t the others be surprised?”
“Can we ring up Mr. Mullins now?” asked Tina.
“Yes, I should,” said Mrs. Esmond.
“Oh, wouldn’t it be awful if he had just lent him to someone else?” said Julian.
But Mr. Mullins hadn’t loaned Jackanapes to any one else, and he seemed delighted that the Esmonds were going to have him and said that work would do him the world of good. Tina arranged that they should fetch him at half-past ten next morning. “I suppose we’d better tell the others,” she said as they left the library and ran upstairs to tell their mother. “We really need one of them to help fetch him in case he’s tiresome to lead.”
“He wasn’t tiresome last time, even though he only had a belt round his neck,” said Julian, “but I suppose he might be feeling very fresh.”
To Julian’s and Tina’s disappointment none of the others seemed the least excited about Jackanapes, but they all said that they would ride over to fetch him. When ten o’clock came Charlotte regretted her rash offer; she grumbled that she wanted to school Delight, not ride up the dreary road to the farm. Lewis said that it would do Delight good to have some exercise first as she had done no work the day before and heaven only knew how many oats Charlotte had given her. Charlotte said that she supposed she might as well go, but it was jolly obliging of her, and if Mrs. Mullins talked for more than ten minutes she would have a nervous breakdown. Paul held every one up because he had to adjust the Turk’s new standing martingale. The other Esmonds sat on their ponies and made impatient remarks.
“Well, you might help instead of grumbling at me,” said Paul. “I can’t help it and I don’t know how tight the beastly thing should be. Stand still,” he said to the Turk. At last he came out of the stable. “There, how does that look?” he asked.
“Too loose,” said Charlotte, “he can still hit you on the nose.”
“Oh, surely it’ll do,” said Paul.
“He’ll catch a foreleg in it,” said Lewis.
“Oh, do hurry up,” said Tina as Paul’s head disappeared under the Turk, “we want to fetch Jackanapes.”
“Don’t whine,” replied Paul.
“Pull it up two holes at least, this time,” said Charlotte.
“There,” said Paul at last. “I don’t care what it looks like now, it’s jolly well got to do.” And he mounted hastily before any one could express their opinion. Mr. and Mrs. Mullins were out when the Esmonds reached the farm, but one of their sons fetched Jackanapes from the old stone stable where he was tied up, all ready in his saddle and bridle. As the Mullins’ sons—in contrast to their parents—hardly ever spoke, the Esmonds were not prevented from hurrying home to their schooling as Charlotte had feared they might be. They merely said good-bye and thank you very much, and set off for home with Lewis leading Jackanapes because Solomon was the most sensible of their mounts and every one had agreed that it would be better not to ride Jackanapes until they were in the field with the gate shut, as they didn’t want to spend the rest of the day pursuing him round other people’s gardens.
“Who’s going to ride him first?” asked Charlotte when they reached home.
“Me,” replied Tina promptly, “but, if I get bucked off, Paul will have to.”
“Thanks awfully,” said Paul sarcastically.
“I’ll hold October,” said Julian.
Tina took off Jackanapes’s halter, pulled down his stirrups and tried to mount, but she had forgotten to tighten his girths and the saddle slipped round under his disgustingly large tummy. “Blast,” said Tina.
“Girths, my good girl, girths,” said Julian in imitation of Miss Murray.
“Howard would just look shocked and sigh heavily,” said Paul.
“Oh these beastly straps, why doesn’t Mr. Mullins clean his tack?” said Tina.
“That sounds like the pot calling the kettle black,” said Lewis.
Charlotte, bored with Tina’s flustered fiddling, dismounted and went to her aid. Just as Tina was preparing to mount, Jackanapes gave a loud squeal and he and Delight swung their quarters into each other and started to have a kicking match. The Esmonds all yelled at them. Tina and Charlotte pulled at their reins but they kicked and squealed until Paul leaped off the Turk and hit Jackanapes’s quarters a wallop with his stick that stopped them.
“Oh dear, Delight’s bleeding,” said Julian.
“Where?” asked Charlotte anxiously.
“Near hind,” said Lewis, dismounting and giving Solomon to Julian to hold.
“It doesn’t look much,” he said, inspecting the wound. “It was lucky that he caught her on the fleshy part of the leg.”
“I do hope she won’t be lame for the Children’s Meet,” said Charlotte. “Poor old lady. I’ll go and bathe it.”
“I’ll come and hold her for you,” said Lewis.
While Lewis and Charlotte were bathing Delight, Tina rode Jackanapes round the field. “His trot’s awfully peculiar,” she told Paul and Julian, “he takes such funny little steps.”
“We can see that,” said Paul, “he looks as though he’d taken six steps where the Turk would take one.”
Tina tried to make him canter, but he evidently didn’t know much about aids for he only trotted faster and faster. “Can I borrow your stick, please?” she asked Paul. “I can’t use my legs any harder—they’re nearly dropping off as it is.” Paul gave her his stick.
“He doesn’t look very well schooled,” said Julian in a disappointed voice.
“Oh, but that makes it all the more fun,” said Tina. “We can do lots of schooling and get him really well trained in the Easter holidays.” She trotted off round the field again and then asked Jackanapes to canter; he paid no attention to her aids, so she hit him sharply; he gave a buck and cantered. Tina shot forward in the saddle and her hat fell over her eyes, then, just as she was straightening it, Extra appeared through the garden hedge, causing Jackanapes to shy; he swerved violently and Tina flew off. Jackanapes’s stirrup irons had been bought for Mr. Mullins’s granddaughter, who was only seven, with the result that they were much too small for Tina; as she fell off one of her feet twisted in the stirrup and jammed there; she lay helpless on the ground, one foot still in the stirrup, and the safety catches, which were stiff and rusty, failed to work. Fortunately Jackanapes was a sensible pony, and when he felt Tina’s weight dragging behind him he stood still. Paul rode towards him at a canter, but Charlotte and Lewis, who had just reached the gate and were rooted to the spot with horror, shrieked at him to stop. “You’ll frighten him if you tear up like that,” shouted Charlotte. “Dismount.” So Paul dismounted, left the Turk and approached Jackanapes warily on foot. Luckily Jackanapes stood still and Paul was able to release Tina; he couldn’t undo the safety catch or unwedge her foot, so he had to unbuckle the leather.
“Thanks awfully,” said Tina, getting to her feet.
“Thank goodness you weren’t on October,” said Paul. “He would never have stood.”
“You were a good boy, Jackanapes,” said Tina, patting him.
“Are you all right?” asked Charlotte.
“Yes, perfectly,” answered Tina.
“We were idiots,” said Lewis, “we ought to have noticed that the beastly things were miles too small.”
“It gave me a fright,” said Charlotte. “Don’t you go putting your great feet in them again, Tina.”
“But what shall we do?” asked Julian in tragic accents. “They’re too small for me and miles too small for Arthur. We might just as well not have an extra pony.”
“Go to Oxford this afternoon and buy some, of course,” answered Paul. “You haven’t spent any of your Christmas money yet.”
“Do you think we shall be allowed to go?” asked Julian more cheerfully.
“Well, I’ll come with you,” said Charlotte. “I’ve got a book token to spend.”
“Oh, good,” said Tina.
“That’s terribly nice of you,” said Julian.
“I’ll have October’s for now,” said Tina.
“No, have Frosty’s,” said Julian, “because I’m going to ride October and put Frosty in the stable; I don’t want to make her too tired for Arthur.”
“I’m going to start schooling,” said Lewis. “If we hang about any longer it’ll be time for lunch.”
“Bags the road corner of the field for my school,” said Paul, “the log’s just the right height for the Turk to walk over.”
“Shall we have a joint school in the middle of the field?” Lewis asked Charlotte.
“O.K.,” said Charlotte, “that suits me. I’ll get some stones to mark the corners.”
The Esmonds schooled busily. Paul practised walking and trotting on a loose rein, halting, back reining and walking over the log. The Turk was silly at first and would try to watch the other ponies instead of attending to his own education, but gradually he became more sensible. Charlotte and Lewis rode circles, taught their ponies to turn on the forehand and practised leading off on the correct leg at the canter. Charlotte was very severe with Delight whenever she edged towards Solomon or refused to canter away from him as she was inclined to do through nappiness. They took it in turns to stand in the middle of the school and correct the other one’s faults as he rode round.
Tina and Julian spent most of their time riding without stirrups, touching their toes and arguing about which point of the horse was which. When Arthur came, they put their mounts in the stable and led him about on Frosty in their end of the field. When their legs ached and their mounts appeared to be becoming bored, Charlotte and Lewis decided that they had done enough schooling and began to look round for something to jump. They had only one jump—a plain bar supported by two posts—in the field. “I know,” said Lewis, “there are stacks of peasticks in the kitchen garden. If you’ll hold Solomon I’ll go round and chuck them over the hedge.” Charlotte took Solomon and with a horse in either hand she wandered round the field searching for bars. She found two. They were rather light, but by pushing one end of each bar into the hedge and supporting the other on a forked stick, she managed to make a double. “There are some lovely poles here as well as the peasticks,” shouted Lewis from the garden. What could we prop them up on?”
“I know,” answered Charlotte after a moment’s thought. She had remembered some packing-cases in the loft. They had had apples in them once, but now they were empty. “Oy, Tina!” she called, “would you be frightfully kind and hold these two for me for half a sec; I want to fetch some boxes from the loft.”
