Horse Thief

Chuck had no choice but to wrench the wheel to the right and drive off the road. The girls screamed in fright as the car teetered precariously on two wheels for an instant as they moved off the hard surface. The road at this point dropped down a stony incline for a few feet until it evened out in a field overgrown with scrubby weeds.

Finally, the station wagon stalled and came to a halt in the field. Chuck’s hands were still tightly clamped around the steering wheel, and he let out a deep sigh.

“That driver must have been out of his mind, coming straight at us like that! ” he complained.

Bess, who had been holding on to her cousin’s arm, let go and shook her head in despair. Is that how people drive around here? she wondered.

“I think that man forced us off the road deliberately, ” Nancy declared. “He wanted us to have an accident! ”

“I agree, ” Heather said. “But why would anyone do such a thing? ”

“Maybe it has something to do with the Kachina doll mystery, ” Nancy said, thinking of the threatening note she had received before leaving River Heights.

“I don’t know, ” Chuck said. “It doesn’t make sense. Did anyone get the license number? ”

No one had, it all had happened too fast.

“Well, let’s see if we can get this car started again, ” Chuck said. After a few attempts, the engine turned over, and he drove along the field to a spot almost level with the road, and eased the car back onto it. Once they were again on their way, his shaken passengers calmed down.

Though the signs of habitation grew more sparse after they left Mesa, Arizona, the desert never really became desolate, for there were homes scattered throughout the area. Nancy was fascinated by the tall saguaro cactus, with their branching arms so often lifted toward the cloudless, blue sky. Since it was spring, many of them wore crowns of creamy flowers.

The road narrowed and Chuck turned off onto a gravel lane. “Homestretch, ” he announced. “The ranch starts as we cross the cattleguard. You can see the house just over there.”

Nancy followed his pointing finger, and her gasp was echoed by Bess and George. “It looks like a castle! ” she exclaimed.

Heather laughed. “That’s what I said the first time I saw it.”

“It’s really more of a fortress, ” Chuck said. “Those walls are several feet thick, and most of the windows weren’t put in till just the last fifty or sixty years. When it was originally built, this was still Indian country and Mr. Harris meant to be safe inside. ”

“It looks like a part of the mountains, ” George observed.

“Much of the rock used in the building did come from the Superstitions, ” Heather acknowledged. “We decided not to change anything about the outside. I think it’s more impressive just the way it is, don’t you? ”

“It’s fantastic, ” Bess breathed. “I had no idea it would be anything like this.”

“What are the other buildings? ” Nancy asked, forcing her gaze away from the weathered, golden-beige walls of the huge, old house.

“The low one on the right with the corrals is the stable, ” Heather began. “The smaller ones on the other side are extra guest cottages. There is a pool house behind the main building, and a pool, of course. There will be tennis courts and a racquetball court, but we don’t have them done yet.” She sighed. “We haven’t even finished the interiors of the cottages.”

“It’s quite a big undertaking, ” Nancy acknowledged. “Do you have much help? ”

“Just Maria in the house. Ward, Maria’s husband, helps when he can, and Mr. Henry has let his sons Sam and Joe work for us part-time.” She smiled. “Mr. Henry is our nearest neighbor. His ranch is the Circle H over that way.” She pointed away from the mountains. “He’s been very helpful.”

“We’ll be able to have ten to fifteen guests in the house itself, ” Chuck explained, “and when we get through, we should have room for as many as twenty in the cottages.”

“What exactly will you do here? ” George asked as they rode along the drive between lacy, pale green trees that were full of tiny, yellow flowers. “I mean, this isn’t a dude ranch, is it? ”

Chuck shook his head. “We’re calling it a health resort. What we plan to do is offer a place for people to come who want healthy outdoor exercise and a proper diet.”

“Diet? ” Bess’s voice wasn’t exactly filled with joy. Everyone laughed and she quickly joined in.

“It’s not going to be just for losing weight, ” Heather explained, “although Maria is a dietician and will set up menus for people who do want to shed some pounds. I’ve studied at a studio in Mesa so I can teach aerobic dancing and rhythm fitness classes, and, if things go well, someday we may be able to put in a golf course. To start, we’ll have hiking in the Superstitions, horseback riding, of course, and swimming. We hope to have a sauna ready by fall, and there will be racquetball and tennis. When people come, we’ll treat them individually, setting up whatever kind of diet and exercise program they want.”

“It sounds wonderful, ” Nancy said. “Just different enough from the ordinary resort to attract attention, but offering what more and more people are interested in—a healthy vacation.”

Heather smiled at the compliment, then her happiness faded. “Healthy if we can get rid of the curse, ” she amended. “We can’t take in a single guest if there really is some ancient apparition stalking our halls.”

Chuck snorted derisively as he followed the rough driveway along the side of the old building, which was shadowed now by the thick growth of mesquite bushes and cactus. As they rounded the end of the dun-colored building, Nancy gasped in surprise. The scene ahead was totally unexpected.

A low hedge marked the line between the arid grandeur of the cactus and the dusty desert and a lush, green lawn, flowering bushes, and citrus trees, which scented the warm air. A large pool gleamed aqua in the center of the spreading gardens. A lovely, white building rose behind it, which Nancy assumed was the pool house and home of the future sauna.

“It’s lovely! ” she exclaimed.

“Water in the desert, ” Chuck explained. “We thought the contrast would be interesting for our guests.”

“Shocking is more like it, ” George told him.

“It’s like a sudden oasis, ” Bess agreed.

Chuck stopped the station wagon and everyone climbed out.

“Oh, I’m so glad we brought our bathing suits, ” Bess said. “We can lie by the pool and go home with lovely tans.”

“You give them the tour, Sis, ” Chuck said. “I’ll take the luggage in and tell Maria we’re home.”

“We hope to build three more cottages over there, ” Heather began. “They can accommodate as many as six people each, so we’ll have families. It’s tentative now. I mean, we can adapt our plans as we go along. Find out what our guests like best and try to supply it.”

“Nothing could be lovelier than this, ” Nancy told her honestly. “I mean, driving up and seeing everything so completely desert and cactus, then coming around the corner to this garden. I love both aspects and I’m sure your guests will, too.”

“We’ll have pool parties and cookouts and maybe overnight rides into the desert or mountains, too, ” Heather went on. “Grandfather knows the area very well and he’s been showing Chuck and me all the old trails into the mountains.”

Bess sighed. “I’d love to come back when you have a lot of handsome guests to ride with.”

Heather’s green eyes gleamed as she winked at Nancy. “Won’t you enjoy riding with Chuck? ” she asked innocently. “I thought you liked him.”

Bess blushed, then dimpled as she realized that she was being teased. “You’re all terrible, ” she told them. “None of you has an ounce of romance.”

“Well, right at the moment...” Heather began, then stopped as a door opened in the rear of the massive, stone building.

“Heather, oh, Heather, I’m so glad you’re home.” An Indian woman of about thirty came out into the dying sunlight. She was neatly clad in a bright, cotton print dress, and her black hair was fastened back on her neck. She would have been pretty had her expression been less troubled.

“Maria, what is it? ” Heather asked, then quickly made introductions as they met on the white stone path that led from the concrete apron of the pool to the rear door of the main building.

“It’s Ngyun, ” Maria began. “Mr. Henry just came by to ask if by any chance Ngyun had come home with an Appaloosa filly.”

“What? ” Heather asked.

Maria looked uncomfortable. “It seems that one is missing from the J Bar T Ranch, and someone called Mr. Henry and told him they’d seen a boy leading the horse in this direction.” She paused, then added, “A boy on a black and white pinto. ”

“Well, has he come home with the filly? ” Heather asked.

Maria sighed. “He hasn’t come home at all. You know how upset he was about your grandfather’s fall last night. Well, this morning he made himself a lunch and rode out. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Did Mr. Henry say where he was seen? ” Heather asked.

Maria shook her head.

“It’s not quite dinner time yet, so suppose I show my guests to their rooms. Then maybe Chuck and I can drive around and see if we can locate him, ” Heather said soothingly. “But don’t worry so, Maria, Cochise isn’t the only pinto horse around and Ngyun isn’t the only boy in the area, either.”

Maria smiled, but there was no happiness in her face.

“We could help you search, ” Nancy offered quickly. “We don’t know the area, but the more pairs of eyes looking...” She stopped as the sound of hoofbeats came from the front of the looming building.

In a moment, a boy on a black and white pinto trotted into view. Trailing behind, held firmly by a lead rope, was a dark bay filly, whose haunches displayed the distinctive white blanket with brown spots of an Appaloosa. The boy guided the pinto right up to the hedge before stopping him.

“Hi, ” he called. “Look what I find running in desert. She pretty.”

“Oh, Ngyun, ” Maria wailed. “Why...”

Nancy stopped the woman with a light hand on her arm. “You found the filly in the desert? ” she asked, stepping forward, then introducing herself.

Ngyun smiled at her shyly, then nodded. “I know she belong someone, but I afraid she get in road if I not catch her. Bring her here safe.”

Heather looked at Nancy, then nodded slightly. “Why don’t you take the filly and Cochise down to the stable, ” she suggested to the boy. “I’ll go inside and call the J Bar T and tell them you found their missing horse.”

The boy, who was small for twelve, nodded and turned the pinto around easily. As he rode away, Maria shook her head. “They’ll call him a horse thief, won’t they? ” she asked no one in particular.

Heather offered no argument as Nancy and her friends followed her and Maria toward the imposing, old house. As they stepped into the shadow of the building, Nancy shivered though the day was still warm. There was, she sensed, trouble ahead!