chapter 1 at the stables

'we've been here a week and i've been bored every single minute!' said george.

'you haven't,' said anne. 'you've enjoyed all the rides we've had, and you know you've enjoyedmessing about the stables when we haven't been out riding.'

'i tell you, i've been bored every single minute,' said george, quite fiercely. 'i ought to know, oughtn'ti? that awful girl henrietta too. why do we have to put up with her?'

'oh - henry!' said anne, with a laugh. 'i should have thought you'd find a lot in common with anothergirl like yourself, who would rather be a boy, and tries to act like one!'

the two girls were lying by a haystack eating sandwiches. round them in a field were many horses,most of which the girls either rode or looked after. some way off was an old rambling building, andby the front entrance was a great board.

captain johnson's riding school

anne and george had been staying there for a week, while julian and dick had gone to camp withother boys from their school. it had been anne's idea. she was fond of horses, and had heard so muchfrom her friends at school what fun it was to spend day after day at the stables, that she had made upher mind to go herself.

george hadn't wanted to come. she was sulky because the two boys had gone off somewhere withouther and anne, for a change. gone to camp! george would have liked that, but girls were not allowedto go camping with the boys from julian's school, of course. it was a camp just for the boys alone.

'you're silly to keep feeling cross because you couldn't go camping too,' said anne. 'the boys don'twant us girls round them all the time. we couldn't do the things they do.'

george thought differently. 'i can do anything that dick and julian do,' she said. 'i can climb, andbike for miles, can walk as far as they can, i can swim, i can beat a whole lot of boys at most things.'

'that's what henry says!' said anne, with a laugh. 'look, there she is, striding about as usual, handsin her jodhpur pockets, whistling like the stable boy!'

george scowled. anne had been very much amused to see how henrietta and george hated oneanother at sight - and yet both had so very much the same ideas. george's real name 2was georgina, but she would only answer to george. henry's real name was henrietta, but she wouldonly answer to henry, or harry to her very best friends!

she was about as old as george, and her hair was short too, but it wasn't curly. 'it's a pity yours iscurly,' she said to george, pityingly. 'it looks so girlish, doesn't it?'

'don't be an ass,' george said, curtly. 'plenty of boys have curly hair.'

the maddening part was that henrietta was a wonderful rider, and had won all kinds of cups.

george hadn't enjoyed herself a bit during that week at the stables, because for once in a way anothergirl had outshone her. she couldn't bear to see henrietta striding about, whistling, doing everythingso competently and quickly.

anne had had many a quiet laugh to herself, especially when the two girls had each made up theirminds not to call one another henry and george, but to use their full names, henrietta and georgina!

this meant that neither of them would answer the other when called, and captain johnson, the bigburly owner of the riding-stables, got very tired of both of them.

'what are you behaving like this for?' he demanded one morning, seeing their sulky looks at oneanother at breakfast-time. 'behaving like a couple of idiotic schoolgirls!'

that made anne laugh! a couple of idiotic schoolgirls. my goodness, how annoyed both girls werewith captain johnson. anne was a bit scared of him. he was hot-tempered, out-spoken, and stood nononsense at all, but he was a wonder with the horses, and loved a good, hearty laugh.

he and his wife took either boys or girls for the holidays, and worked them hard, but the childrenalways enjoyed their stay immensely.

'if it hadn't been for henry, you'd have been perfectly happy this week,' said anne, leaning backagainst the haystack. 'we've had heavenly april weather, the horses are lovely, and i like captain andmrs. johnson very much.'

'i wish the boys were here,' said george. 'they would soon put that silly henrietta in her place. i wishi'd stayed at home now.'

'well, you had the choice,' said anne, rather cross. 'you could have stayed at kirrin cottage withyour father and mother, but you chose to come here with me, till the boys came back from camp.

you shouldn't make such a fuss if things aren't exactly to your liking. it spoils things for me.'

'sorry,' said george. 'i'm being a pig, i know, but i do miss the boys. we can only be with them in thehols and it seems funny without them. there's just one thing that pleases me here you'll be glad toknow...'

3

'you needn't tell me, i know what it is!' said anne, with a laugh. 'you're glad that timmy won't haveanything to do with henry!'

'with henrietta,' corrected george. she grinned suddenly. 'yes, old timmy's got some sense. he justcan't stick her. here, timmy boy, leave those rabbit-holes alone and come and lie down for a bit.

you've run for miles this morning when we took the horses out, and you've snuffled down about ahundred rabbit-holes. come and be peaceful.'

timmy left his latest rabbit-hole reluctantly and came to flop down beside anne and george. he gavegeorge a hearty lick and she patted him.

'we're just saying, timmy, how sensible you are not to make friends with that awful henrietta,'

said george. she stopped suddenly at a sharp nudge from anne. a shadow fell across them assomeone came round the haystack.

it was henrietta. by the annoyed look on her face it was clear that she had heard george's remark.

she held out an orange envelope to george.

'a telegram for you, georgina,' she said, stiffly. 'i thought i'd better bring it in case it was important.'

'oh, thanks, henrietta,' said george, and took the telegram. she tore it open, read it and groaned.

'look at that!' she said to anne and passed it to her. 'it's from mother.'

anne took the telegram and read it. 'please stay another week. your father is not well. love frommother.'

'what bad luck!' said george, a familiar scowl on her face. 'just when i thought we'd be going homein a day or two, and the boys would join us at kirrin. now we'll be stuck here by ourselves for ages!

what's the matter with father? i bet he's only got a headache or something, and doesn't want usstamping about in and out of the house and making a noise.'

'we could go to my home,' said anne. 'that's if you don't mind its being a bit upside down because ofthe decorating we're having done.'

'no. i know you want to stay here with the horses,' said george. 'anyway your father and mother areabroad, we'd only be in the way. blow, blow, blow! now we'll have to do without the boys foranother week. they'll stay on in camp, of course.'

captain johnson said, 'yes, certainly the two girls could stay on. it was possible that they might haveto do a bit of camping out if one or two extra children came, but they wouldn't mind that, wouldthey?'

4

'not a bit,' said george. 'actually we'd rather like to be on our own, anne and i. we've got timmy,you see. so long as we could come in to meals and do a few jobs for you, we'd love to go off on ourown.'

anne smiled to herself. what george really meant was that she wanted to see as little of henrietta aspossible! still, it would be fun to camp out if the weather was fine. they could easily borrow a tentfrom captain johnson.

'bad luck, georgina!' said henry, who was listening to all this. 'very bad luck! i know you're terriblybored here. it's a pity you don't really like horses. it's a pity that you-'

'shut up,' said george, rudely and went out of the room. captain johnson glared at henrietta, whostood whistling at the window, hands in pockets.

'you two girls!' he said. 'why don't you behave yourselves? always aping the boys, pretending you'reso mannish! give me anne here, any day! what you want is your ears boxing. did you take that baleof straw to the stables?'

'yes,' said henrietta, without turning.

'yes, sir,' said captain johnson. 'if you want to act like a boy, be one, and say 'sir' when you speak tome, if you can't bother to remember i've got a name. it's...'

he broke off as a small boy came running in. 'sir, there's a gypsy kid outside with a horse, askewbald, a mangy looking thing. he says can you help him - the horse has got something wrongwith its leg.'

'those gypsies again!' said captain johnson. 'all right, i'll come.'

he went out and anne went with him, not wanting to be left alone with the angry henrietta. shefound george outside with a small dirty gypsy boy and a patient little skewbald horse, its brown andwhite coat looking very flea-bitten.

'what have you done to your horse this time?' said captain johnson, looking at its leg. 'you'll have toleave it here, and i'll see to it.'

'can't do that, sir,' said the boy. 'we're off to mystery moor again.'

'well, you'll have to,' said captain johnson. 'it's not fit to walk. your caravan can't go with the others,this horse isn't fit to pull it. i'll get the police to your father if you try to work this horse before it'sbetter.'

'don't do that!' said the boy. 'it's just that my dad says we've got to go on tomorrow.'

5

'what's the hurry?' said captain johnson. 'can't your caravan wait a day or two? mystery moor willstill be there in two days time! it beats me why you go there, a desolate place like that, not even afarm or a cottage for miles!'

'i'll leave the horse,' said the boy, and stroked the skewbald's nose. it was clear that he loved the uglylittle horse. 'my father will be angry, but the other caravans can go on without us. we'll have to catchthem up.'

he gave a kind of half-salute to the captain and disappeared from the stable-yard, a skinny littlesunburnt figure. the skewbald stood patiently.

'take it round to the small stable,' said captain johnson to george and anne. 'i'll come and see to itin a minute.'

the girls led the little horse away. 'mystery moor!' said george. 'what a queer name! the boyswould like that, they'd be exploring it at once, wouldn't they?'

'yes. i do wish they were coming here,' said anne. 'still, i expect they'll like the chance of staying onin camp. come on, you funny little creature, here's the stable!'

the girls shut the door on the gypsy's pony and turned to go back. william, the boy who had broughtthe message about the horse, yelled to them.

'hey, george and anne! there's another telegram for you!'

the two hurried into the house at once. 'oh, i hope father is better and we can go home and join theboys at kirrin!' said george. she tore open the envelope and then gave a yell that made anne jump.

'look, see what it says. they're coming here!' anne snatched the telegram and read it.

'joining you tomorrow. we'll camp out if no room. hope you've got a nice juicy adventure ready forus! julian and dick.'

'they're coming! they're coming!' said anne, as excited as george. 'now we'll have some fun!'

'it's a pity we've no adventure to offer them,' said george. 'still, you simply never know!'