by Allison, age 13

“We will meet at the twisted oak in one hour,” said Kara’s father, referring to a strangely shaped tree in the back pasture. Kara shifted in her saddle excitedly, and her horse, Raja, nickered.

This was her favorite time of the year. Her family, friends, and neighbors all gathered at her house for a horseback scavenger hunt. Every year, the prize was pretty good; but this year, the winner got something amazing! All of the other competitors in the scavenger hunt would gather together to build the winner an amazing jumping/obstacle course! Kara had been planning where and how they would build this course for her for weeks, but now she just had to do one more thing — win.

The starter’s gun fired loudly, sending all riders at a canter to the table that held their first clue. Kara grabbed the envelope with her name on it and tore it open. The first clue read:

At the mouth of the blue serpent,
A forked tongue you will find,
Now hurry up and find your clue,
Don’t be left behind.

“I have never heard of a blue snake,” Kara thought, scowling. “I guess I’ll ride out and see if I find something.” She rode toward the open plains. Suddenly she stopped. “Hold on,” she thought, “in my English class we read a poem where it called a river a blue serpent, and rivers have mouths where they flow into a pond or lake. This clue must mean look at Bonnie’s Brook where it flows into the duck pond. I still don’t know what the “forked tongue” part means, but I can figure that out when I get there.” She cantered off, very confident in her abilities.

At the mouth of Bonnie’s Brook, the water was peaceful and still. Nothing brought a forked tongue to mind. She rode around for a bit and finally had an idea. A tree can be forked, she thought. I need to look for a forked tree. Kara looked down and gasped. She had found her forked tree, all right.

Laying in the dust was a trampled tree with a prominent fork in the middle and a torn piece of paper underneath. That was not the shocking part, though. On the ground beside the tree, there were hoof prints and drops of blood. A horse must have been terrified to gallop through here so fast that he ran into the tree. She looked at the clue in her hand.

The last clue
You now behold.
Find the traveling horseback gym,
And you are sure to get the gold!

“Oh my goodness,” thought Kara, “I know exactly what this is. The last clue must be hidden under my vaulting saddle! Vaulting is gymnastics on horseback!” Then she thought back to the hoof prints on the ground. “What am I going to do?” She wondered, “My horse and I would love that obstacle course, but a horse is hurt!”

Raja whinnied and nodded his head toward the hoof prints on the wet bank of the creek. “I guess that decides it!” Kara laughed. She and Raja cantered along, following the trail of prints. The hoofprints abruptly stopped where a pair of tire tracks began. “Maybe someone found their horse?” Kara suggested weakly. She knew that didn’t happen; she just knew it.

A horse’s squeal sounded from the small road that wove in and out of the forest. “They can’t have gone too far!” Kara muttered to Raja, “Let’s catch them!” Raja’s hoofs pounded loudly on the packed dirt of the road. Kara began to giggle, then to laugh. This road was a dead end! There was no way the trailer could get out. The trailer neared the end of the road, only to be met by… horses and other players in the scavenger hunt? They formed a line at the end of the road, showing the trailer there was no escape. The trailer just stopped dead. Kara’s neighbor stepped out holding his hands up as if to apologize. “What?” asked Kara, “Why are you here, Dad?”

“It seems that Mr. Burns liked our show horse a little too much,” her dad said icily, “Open the trailer, Burns.” Our horse, Royalty, daintily walked out, despite the cuts he had over his entire body.

“How did you know, John?” Mr. Burns questioned Kara’s father, “I had it all planned out.”

“Well, first, you seemed a little too excited about this scavenger hunt. Every other year you participated, you didn’t care too much. Second, I knew you knew where to go for the first clue. You always call Bonnie’s Brook “that blue snake.” When you immediately rode toward my stables, I knew something was up. After I thought about what I should do and rode up to the stables, you were already gone — with my horse! I knew about that trailer you had hidden in my woods. I was being neighborly and thought you just needed a place to store it. No, you had this all planned and I realized it today. Too bad you didn’t know the roads as well as you thought you did,” my dad said.

At this last sentence, the whole scavenger hunt party began to snicker. Then, they all burst into laughter. Even the horses seemed to enjoy the joke. Kara’s dad motioned for everyone to stop and spoke to her. “Thanks, Kara, for coming after him,” her dad said proudly.

“But, Dad,” Kara said, confused, “It didn’t matter that I came. You would have stopped him anyway.”

“Yes, but that is not the important part,” Kara father explained patiently, “You didn’t know we were going to be here. You were willing to come after him alone and give up your prize to save the horse. That’s what really matters.”

“Oh, dad,” Kara said, blushing.

One week later

“No, no! That jump goes over there!” Kara said to a neighbor helping to put together her obstacle/jumping course. She couldn’t wait to ride it with Raja! The whole scavenger hunt party was helping to put it together. That is, except Mr. Burns. He was staying in the county jail for horse theft.