Chapter 4.
Pine Hollow was abuzz with activity as the students got everything ready to leave on the mountain trail overnight.
The Saddle club along with Josh, Jamie, Jess and Melanie were in the lounge packing their stuff into their saddle bags.
Stevie looked over at Lisa and shook her head chuckling. Lisa had four separate piles of stuff that she was trying to figure out how to fit into one set of saddle bags.
"Forget it." chuckled Stevie, "There is no way you're going to be able to pack all that into your saddle bags!"
"Your mother, the over packer, strikes again, huh." Said Carole
Lisa rolled her eyes and nodded.
"This is more stuff than she sent on the last two mountain trail overnights combined!" said Lisa exasperated.
"Just pack the most important stuff in your saddle bags and have Deborah carry the rest of it, to the campsite, in the truck." Said Stevie
"She's right," said Carole, "Not even Pegasus is strong enough to carry that much stuff!"
Lisa had to agree. In her saddlebags, she packed a change of clothes and shoes along with the book she was currently reading. She also packed a bag of Jelly beans and a bag of trail mix. As well as a spare canteen of water.
The rest of the stuff she gave to Deborah to put in the truck.
Finally, the students were all out in the staging area. Stevie finished tying her bedroll onto her saddle and mounted up.
"Alright," said Max, "As you all know we're going to be riding past the WRI campus, but even in spite of the recent trouble we've had, we should be okay. Everyone, just stay together, no wandering off on your own."
"Right," said Mrs. Reg, "No sense in giving the WRI any more reason to cause us trouble."
"Like they ever needed an excuse before." muttered Stevie just loud enough for the others to hear and agree with her.
Max gave the signal and they all started out up the trail. After about 45 minutes they came to the stretch of the tail that passed near the property line between Pine Hollow and WRI property.
As expected, everyone was a little tense as they rode that stretch of the trail.
Finally, a few minutes after noon, they reached their campsite. It was a beautiful meadow in the middle of an old growth forest full of massive trees.
"Wow!" said Stevie looking around, "This is a beautiful place, Max."
"Yeah," said Josh, "It really is!"
"Thanks," said Max, "It's actually one of my favorite places on the whole Pine Hollow property!"
The girls and Josh untacked their horses and let them go down to the nearby creek to drink while they helped set up camp.
Very quickly the tents were pitched and a campfire was burning the fire bowl which was just a hole in the ground lined with rocks.
It was turning out to be a very enjoyable trip.
Josh help Max hang, the cast iron, Dutch oven on the cooking stand over the fire so he could start cooking lunch. Max put in the fixings for his famous trailblazer stew. And soon a delicious aroma wafted across the meadow.
Lisa, Carole, and Stevie were all sitting on a picnic blanket playing a card game and talking while their horses grazed nearby.
Josh was lounging on his own blanket nearby. Jamie, Jess and Melanie were over by the tree line across the meadow from the campsite playing some game of their own.
Josh was laying on his back with his hands behind his head. He closed his eyes and was staring to drifted off when suddenly the tranquility of place was shattered into a thousand fragments by bloodcurdling screams from the other side of the meadow. The screams were punctuated by thudding sounds.
In an instant Josh and the saddle club were on their feet. The screams were coming from Jamie, Jess, and Melanie! Josh and the Girls raced across the meadow toward the younger riders. When they got there, they found the girls huddled up, on the ground, covered in multi-colored splotches of paint!
Jamie was on top of the other two girls apparently trying her best to shield them. her back was covered in paint splotches.
The girls had been hit by an almost unbelievable barrage of paint balls that had thankfully stopped as soon as Josh and the Saddle club arrived
"Are you guys alright?!" cried Lise
"I think so!" said Jamie, as she stood up and helped the others up, "Those things really hurt! I think were all going to be covered in bruises!"
Rage flashed in Josh's eyes as the got a closer look and how many time his sister had been hit!
"Could you tell what direction the shots were coming from?" he asked
Jamie pointed in two directions
"There and There," she said, "They had us in a crossfire!"
After taking the three younger girls back to camp. Josh and the saddle headed back to investigate the "scene of the crime".
They entered the woods in the directions that Jamie had pointed out. Stevie and Carole took one direction and Josh and Lisa took the other. Lisa's mother had sent a set of walkie talkies with Lisa so they used those to keep in touch.
"What are we looking for?" asked Lisa holding the button down on her walkie talkie so the others could hear.
"Anything that will tell us who did this?" answered Josh
"Well, isn't that a waste of time?!" Stevie's voice crackled over the walkie talkie after Lisa released the button, "We already know it was WRI!"
"Knowing it and proving it are two different things!" Lisa and Josh heard Carole reply
"Hey guys," came Carole's voice, "I found hoofprints over here, at least two horses!"
"Same here," said Lisa suddenly pointing at an open patch of ground about 60 feet inside the tree line. on the ground was at least two sets of hoofprints.
They all examined the sets of hoofprints they had found, but were disappointed when there was nothing distinguishable about them.
They were all feeling angry and frustrated when suddenly Josh spotted something half buried in the dirt near one of the sets of hoof prints. Walking the few steps over to it, he picked it up, and brushed it off.
"Hey look at this!" he said excitedly
"What is it?" asked Lisa hurrying over to where he was.
"It's a patch from the Willow Creek Paintball Club." Replied Josh showing it to her.
"Willow Creek Paintball Club!" cried Stevie loud enough for them to hear her without the walkie talkie
"Yeah," said Lisa, "Aren't your brothers' members of that club?"
"They sure are." Snapped Stevie
"Do you suppose they could tell us what members of the club also go to the WRI?" asked Josh
"Oh, they'll tell us alright," said Stevie punching her fist into her hand, "If they know what's good for them!"
To Be Continued…Please Review