The day was warm but not so hot that there were clouds of buzzing flies to annoy the ponies. They rode side by side along the track, the girls not saying anything but the ponies chatting to each other in Horse.
After a while, they came to a wooded valley with a wide shallow river running through it. The path was narrow to begin with and so they went slowly, enjoying the birds singing and the sunlight slanting through the leaves. Little by little, the girls began to relax.
When the path got wider, Alfred – who knew this part of the woods – took off at a faster pace. Merlin followed.
They came to a place where the river flowed across the path. The water was shallow and Meg saw that it was a ford – a place where walkers and horses could cross the river easily. On the other side, the path carried on, up the hill and out of the woods. Alfred and Sam splashed quickly through, but Merlin stopped dead and gave a snort of alarm.
“What’s THAT doing there?” he asked Meg.
“It’s just water,” she said.
Meg let him have a good long look and then tried to nudge him forward.
Merlin wouldn’t move. “Suppose something’s in it?” he asked.
“Like what?”
“A shark. Or a hippopotamus.”
“Well, Alfred didn’t get attacked, did he?” said Meg. “Honestly, you’ll be fine!”
Meg nudged him forward again. From the other side of the river, Alfred whinnied to Merlin, but Merlin still would not move.
“It’s all right!” said Meg again.
She could feel Merlin trying to decide what to do. He didn’t want to splash through the river. He was going to jump across it. He got himself ready. And then, suddenly, Merlin leaped forward so quickly that Meg got left behind. She grabbed the front of his saddle to stop herself falling off backward.
Merlin’s leap was huge but not big enough. He splashed into the middle of the river and then jumped again. Meg stayed in the saddle but only just. They reached the other side, Merlin huffing and puffing and holding his head high as if he wanted a medal for his bravery.
Meg laughed.
“You daft animal,” she said, giving Merlin’s neck a rub. “We weren’t supposed to do anything silly, remember?” She glanced at Sam and joked, “Don’t tell your mum, will you? She’d have a fit.”
Sam started to giggle and soon the two girls were laughing their heads off. They stopped feeling shy and awkward, and it was a while before they could catch their breath and go on.
On the far side of the river the path widened even more. There were fallen trees for the ponies to jump and then at last they came out of the woods into an open field. Grass stretched all the way to the top of the hill.
“No mad gallops,” said Sam, looking over at Meg and grinning.
“Definitely not,” agreed Meg.
The two girls smiled at each other. The two ponies took a deep breath. And without another word all four of them agreed:
“Let’s go!”
