Diamond Spirit by Karen Wood Read Free Book Online

Luke, let’s see what he can do,’ said Harry, opening the gate and waving him into the yard.
    Luke walked the horse into the yard. He lifted the rein slightly and clicked it up. The colt bounded to the left as if on springs. With barely a shift in the saddle, Luke commanded it to halt, reined it back again and sent it leaping to the right as he singled out a cow.
    ‘Not a bad rider, ay?’ Harry winked at Jess. ‘That’s the more flighty of the two colts. Luke keeps ’em steady.’
    Harry swung the gates open and let Luke, the colt and the cow into the large arena. He watched them work with a satisfied look on his face.
    Then he turned to Jess. ‘Come on, Jess, I’ll show you their sire if you like.’ And just assuming she would like, he limped towards the arena gate, calling back to Tom and Luke, ‘Righto, boys, that’s probably enough for now.’
    ‘Are you going to show Jess Biyanga?’ asked Grace, jumping from the fence. ‘I wanna come too.’
    ‘Me too,’ said Rosie.
    ‘Get those horses watered first,’ said Harry. He motioned for Jess to follow him towards the barn.
    Inside the big timber barn were twelve stables. The walls were built from hardwood slabs, thick enough to withstand a double barrel from a horse’s hind legs, and high enough that even a tall horse couldn’t see over them.
    As Jess caught up, Harry glanced sideways at her. ‘So, what happened to your eye?’
    At that very moment Katrina Pettilow emerged from a stable, leading Chelpie behind her. Every horse in the building immediately started whinnying and fidgeting.
    Jess immediately forgot Harry’s question and confronted Katrina. ‘You saw Diamond’s accident happen, didn’t you?’
    Katrina stared in disgust at Jess’s face. ‘No,’ she said, and turned away.
    ‘You did, I know you did,’ said Jess. ‘Why don’t you just tell me what happened?’
    ‘Why don’t you ask your best friend?’ snorted Katrina.
    ‘Best keep that mare away from the stallion, Katrina,’ interrupted Harry. ‘She in season or something? She’s upsetting all the other horses.’
    Katrina kept her back to Harry and didn’t answer. She tethered Chelpie to a piece of hay twine that hung from the stable door. Jess felt a twinge of satisfaction when she saw that Chelpie’s tail still had a hint of green to it.
    ‘This way,’ said Harry. ‘So, what happened to your eye?’ he repeated.
    ‘A horse banged his head in my face.’ Jess answered quietly so that Katrina wouldn’t hear her. There was something about Harry that she instantly trusted. Katrina Pettilow, however, was a different story. She glanced over her shoulder and saw her brushing Chelpie. Jess wished she’d had more time to grill Katrina before Harry led her away.
    ‘Hmmm,’ said Harry.
    At the end of the stable aisle was a loosebox. It was twice the size of the others and had a door opening out into a large yard at the back. Harry pointed at the adjoining feedroom. ‘Pick me out a nice big biscuit of hay, would you, Jess?’ He unlatched the stable door and called out, ‘Hey, big daddy-o!’ He motioned for Jess to take the hay inside. ‘In you go.’
    A fat black and white pig came trotting into the stable, grunting and squealing. He nudged at Jess, demanding the hay, and nearly bowled her over. She gave a surprised laugh. ‘Is this Biyanga?’ she asked, fighting off the hungry pig as it ripped at the hay and made it spill all over the stable floor.
    ‘That’s Grunter, his stablemate. Ryan saved him from the dogs on a hunting trip and gave him to Annie – that’s the missus – to fatten up for Christmas.’ He laughed. ‘Nice gesture, but we don’t have a sty. I had to lock him in here or Annie was gonna stick him in the freezer.’ Harry rolled his eyes. ‘Biyanga’s fallen in love with him. He won’t go anywhere without his pig. He comes to all the campdrafts with us.’
    Jess gave the pig a scratch along his back and he wriggled with delight.
    Who’s