The Happy Valley Mystery

exercise them?”
    “That Nancy is the gentlest horse I ever rode,” Diana said. “I love her.”
    “She’s old,” Mrs. Gorman said. “She’s my pet. We’ve had her a long time.”
    “How about Satan’s Baby and Black Giant?” Mr. Gorman asked, smiling. “You can’t call them gentle.”
    “They didn’t give us any trouble,” Trixie said. “You should just take a run on some of the horses in Honey’s father’s stable. I had one ride I’ll never forget.”
    “Satan’s Baby and Black Giant can almost turn the sheep into the field themselves if it needs to be done,” Mr. Gorman said. “I do wish I didn’t have to go.”
    “Right now most of the flock is staying pretty close to home,” Mrs. Gorman said, “right down there grazing in the field near the barns.”
    “That’s right,” Mr. Gorman said. “You probably won’t need the horses at all—just Tip and Tag. Want to go out now for a quick look around?” he asked. “I’ll show you what has to be done if a storm comes up. You won’t have any trouble.”
    Trixie went with Mr. Gorman and the boys. Honey and Diana stayed behind to help Mrs. Gorman, who insisted on having the dinner all ready for the Bob-Whites before she would dress to go to Rivervale with her husband. “All you have to do, then,” she said, “is put it in the oven and warm it.”
     
    The sky was still dark, and big clouds had rolled in from the northwest as Mr. and Mrs. Gorman drove out of the yard.
    “We’ll take care of everything. Don’t you worry,” Trixie called after them.
    “If he only knew some of the tight places we’ve been in and managed to squeeze out of,” Honey said.
    “Yes,” Trixie agreed. “The time, for instance, that Jim’s stepfather set fire to Jim’s uncle’s old mansion.”
    “And you were the one who saved Jim’s half-million-dollar inheritance, and I acquired a darling redheaded brother when Mother and Daddy adopted Jim!”
    Trixie blushed. “I just can’t remember what our lives were like without Jim,” she said.
    “Your life, especially,” Mart teased. “I guess we’ve really run down some tough customers, haven’t we?
    “What do you mean ‘we’?” Trixie asked, turning to face Mart. "Honey and I... we were the detectives. You just made fun of us till we’d solved the mysteries, and then you claimed some of the credit.”
    “Yeah? You’d never have escaped from that stolen trailer if it hadn’t been for me. You’re just jealous of my superior deductive instincts,” Mart said.
    “There you go again, talking gobbledygook,” Trixie said. “Honestly, though, Mart,” she added, ashamed of herself, “you always have been a big help, hasn’t he, Honey?”
    “Of course he has,” Honey agreed, “and Brian and Jim have, too, especially the time when you were marooned all night in the blizzard.”
    “I guess a little thing like an Iowa snow needn’t worry us any after that,” Jim said.
    “Holy cow, look at those flakes,” Mart called from the window. “Iowa snow or New York snow, it sure is coming down.”
    Trixie ran to the window, then turned to the other Bob-Whites. “We’d better get busy,” she said, “and in a hurry, too. Come on!”
    Outside, Brian whistled to Tip and Tag, who were up in the apple orchard chasing the big flakes as they swirled to the ground.
    “Come along!” he said to the dogs. Then he called to the girls, “Go on back in the house and get dinner ready. Warm up the things Mrs. Gorman left. We’ll take care of this.”
    Obediently, Honey and Diana turned back-but not Trixie.
    “You can’t order me around like that, Brian Belden,” she said. “Jeepers, just look at the way that snow is coming down... like closed fists!”
    “It’s wet and wadded together,” Jim said. “It’s almost covered the ground already ”
    “And the sheep,” Trixie said. “Don’t they look queer? They have topcoats of snow wool. How was it that Mr.
    Gorman said to call them last night?”
    “I know,” Jim said. “It sounded something like an auctioneer s lingo.”
    “Suppose you call them, then,” Brian suggested, “before Tip and Tag scatter them all over the landscape. What’s the matter with those crazy dogs, anyway?”
    Trixie whistled and called, “Here, Tag! Here, Tip!” and the dogs obeyed. “Someone tell them what to do,” she said. “Jim, call the sheep!”
    Jim cupped his hands around his mouth. “Sooooo— sheep!” he called. The Beldens doubled up, laughing.