“All right, let’s do it. I think you look real nice that way, Chicken Little, honest I do.”
“Well, they’re heaps more comfortable. I feel so light. You make an awfully cute boy, Katy, and 209Gertie is just sweet. And you couldn’t ride bare back half so well sidewise.”
It took some persuasion to secure Gertie’s consent, but she finally gave in.
They rode gaily out into the lane. Calico was too tired to make any protest to his double burden. Once in the lane, they waited in the shade. But the boys did not come. They waited until Jane was sure it must be one o’clock and their appetites suggested two at the very earliest. Calico waited patiently enough, but Caliph was uneasy over the flies. Finally, they decided to give the boys up and go back and have their picnic alone.
“We might take one gallop down the line to the creek to make sure they’re not in the meadow,” Katy suggested.
“I bet they finished the weeds sooner than they expected and went fishing.” Chicken Little strained her eyes in the direction of the meadow.
They started the horses off at a smart pace, then faster and faster, till they broke into a swift gallop.
“Isn’t it glorious?” Chicken Little called back. She was several lengths ahead.
She did not hear Katy’s response. A jack rabbit, frightened by the approaching horses, broke cover from some wild blackberry bushes that grew over the stone wall, and dashed across the road directly in front of Caliph. The spirited beast shied violently, 210then leaped forward, throwing Chicken Little neatly off into the exact middle of the dusty lane. Her pride was more hurt than she was. She tried to stop him by calling “Whoa” lustily. But Caliph seemed to have a pressing engagement elsewhere. He quickly disappeared around a bend in the lane.
The girls looked at each other in dismay.