The Quicksand Pony by Alison Lester Read Free Book Online Page A

by the time they got home. ‘Educating’ was what her father called it, and Biddy thought he enjoyed it as much as the dogs.
    Mum rode at the back with the packhorse, pushing along the dawdlers. Biddy was on the seaward side, splashing steadily through the shallows and turning back any steers that wandered towards the surf or stopped to chew on the rubbery yellow kelp washed in with the tide. She rested one leg across the pommel of her saddle and wondered again who really had plaited the horses’ manes last night. She was pretty sure her mum and dad weren’t tricking her, and the plaits weren’t just tangles. Gordon’s tail was braided in the same way she and Irene did their hair, and Mum’s horse had a running plait sloping down her neck. Bella’s mane had three fine single plaits, with speckled feathers bound into the ends of them. Maybe the next time she braided Irene’s hair she would try it. She had some crimson rosella feathers that would look fantastic in her black hair. Perhaps some red beads . . .
    â€˜Biddy! Biddy!’ Her mother’s voice broke into her daydream. ‘Go out and get those cattle off the sandbar.’
    Without thinking, Biddy clicked Bella into a canter and raced after the long straggle of steers. Bella put her ears back as she wheeled the cattle around, and gave them a dirty look.
    â€˜Get back there! Git moving!’ Biddy shouted. ‘You boys can’t even swim!’
    Bella’s hooves pounded as she raced alongside the galloping steers.
    The shifting clouds overhead reflected in the wet sand so that the ground itself seemed to be moving . . .

Later, Biddy tried to remember what happened, but there was no warning, no deep sand, no bog. It was just bang—straight in. One minute Bella was bowling along on firm sand, and the next she had stopped. The sudden halt flung Biddy over the pony’s head.
    At first she thought Bella had fallen, so she staggered to her feet and urged the pony to do the same. ‘Come on, Bella! Come on, girl! Get up!’ It was only when she felt the sand sucking at her legs that she realised what had happened.
    â€˜Mum!’ she screamed. ‘Mum! Help me! Bella’s bogged! She’s in quicksand!’ Bella struggled and sank even deeper, past her shoulders. ‘Oh please, God, I’ll do anything. Please don’t let her sink! Come on , Bella! Get out!’
    Biddy dragged on the reins. Bella grunted with effort and heaved desperately, but couldn’t budge. The bridle pulled over the pony’s slippery ears and came away in Biddy’s hands, sending her sprawling into the bog. She lay there, sandy, wet and sobbing, as her mother rode up and dismounted on the firm sand.
    â€˜Come on, Bid. Get up. We’ll see if Blue can pull her out.’ She looped a rope around the chest of the old pack- horse and threw the end to Biddy. ‘Tie this under her surcingle—where it goes across the top of your saddle. If you lie flat on the sand you won’t sink so much.’
    Biddy wriggled across to Bella. The pony had stopped struggling but it made Biddy sob to see her looking so pathetic. Her beautiful mane was plastered into a brown lump and her terrified eyes were messed and dirty with sand. At least she wasn’t sinking any more.
    â€˜Don’t worry, girl,’ Biddy soothed. ‘You’ll be right.’
    The rope was heavy and stiff, and her hands just wouldn’t stop shaking. She pulled off her gloves and flung them away. ‘I hope this strap will hold, Mum. Okay, you pull and I’ll push.’
    Lorna turned Blue towards the shore and he leaned into the rope around his chest. He dug his hooves in the sand and heaved with all his might . . . Suddenly he plunged forward—but without Bella. Only the broken surcingle dragged on the end of the rope.
    â€˜It’s not working, Mum!’ Biddy screamed. ‘It’s broken! She hasn’t