Dinny Dinah

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 11 (Supplement)

Dinny Dinah

Molly Scott rode round the bend of the riverbed, where the steep clay cliffs clropped lower. Even above the noise of the waterfall in the valley behind and the grating scrunch of her horse’s hooves on the loose stones, she could hear the cursing and shouting of a man in a furious temper. Poor, wretched dogs, she .thought, and just then she saw him; he had no dogs, but was lashing and shouting at a horse. Molly saw the agony of fear and pain in the big eyes and as she stared she heard a pitiful little whinny, and noticed the wide nostrils distend and the fine body quiver as the whip was raised again. “Stop!” she cried out, and though her interruption was too late to prevent the cruel lash, it perhaps lessened the force of the blow. The rider looked up, a dark man with a hard expression on his face. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked with a sneer. “That’s no way to treat a horse,” she stormed. “Oh, isn’t it? Well, this mare happens to belong to me, and I’m going to teach her that I’m boss,i and if I kill her I’ll get her up this valley.” As he spoke he raised his stick again and the mare jumped with terror. She lurched forward suddenly, and twisted her body as if to break free, and the man fell heavily. The horse bolted back the way she had come, and the man stood up swearing that „he would smash her when he caught her. Molly followed the bolting horse on her slow old hack. She chased for nearly three miles up the side road before she caught her, in a lather of sweat, and still trembling with nervousness. Molly stroked the black head and patted the silky crest. When she thought she had gained enough of the horse’s confidence she mounted old Jo and led the black mare back to her father’s farm. “Wherever did you get that mare?” her father asked when he saw her. “It’s the one Rory Miller bought at the sale yesterday.” Molly told him the story, and asked if she might keep the mare there till they found Rory. The black horse was shut in a loose box and given a good bran mash, and Molly went out to look at her several times before she went to bed. Half an hour after her last visit to the stables she

heard a frightened whinny, and she went out again. She could see nothing that could have upset the horse at first, but then she noticed a man’s shadow in the opposite box. It was Rory Miller with a stockwhip. “Have you come for your horse?” she asked in a loud voice, hoping her father or one of the men would hear her. “Yare, and I’ll have the law on you for stealing her. Come on, hand her over before 1 make you sorry.” By this time Mr Scott and two of the men were making for the stables. “So you’ve come for your horse, Rory,” said Mr Scott in a quiet voice.. “Yare.” “Well, how much do you want for the mare?" “Fifty quid,” muttered Rory. “Rather a profit when you bought-her for £lO, isn’t it?” “Who told you I paid £lO for her, anyhow?” “I was at the sale. I’U give you £lO or nothing.” “O.K. And I’ll have it in cash.”

Molly could hardly believe that the beautiful black mare was joing to belong to her father, and she had a horrible feeling that even yet Rory might change his crooked mind. But he took the cash and went. Molly looked at the mare and declared, “She looks like a thoroughbred.” “She is,” her father said. “She has won a race, too, but she staked her foot last year, and hasn’t been able to stand up to hard training since. She belonged to Clark, the trainer. He told me about her to-day, and he was a bit worried about Rory having her, but Clark needed the money badly.” “Thank goodness she’s ours now,” said Molly gratefully. T think I’ll call her Dinny Dinah.” Dinny was highly-strung and nervous, but with gentle handling she settled down quite well. One day they saw her jump a fence to get into a paddock with a , young draught foal. She jumped with such ease and style that Mr Scott decided to school her. The mare was a beautiful jumper. The master of the Belroy Hunt offered a big price for

her. But Mr Scott would not sell. 'And now we come to the day of the point-to-point steeplechase. Through Dinah’s plucky jumping and Molly’s good riding they ran into second place—being beaten only by the huntsman who was the most daring rider in the countryside. Again the master of the Belroy Hunt offered to buy Dinah, and this time he offered £5 more than he had offered before, and again Mr Scott refused to selL After tea that night Molly took out to Dinny’s box a big bunch of juicy carrots as a reward for her great race, but the loose box was empfy and Dinny was nowhere to be found. Months passed, but without any trace of Dinny Dinah. The police could find no clues, yet they knew that Rory Miller had not been seen in the district since the night of the theft. 1 Molly went to stay on a farm in the back country among the hills for a holiday during the summer, and she and her cousin often went for long walks.in the bush. On the last day of her holiday Molly went for a walk alone in the late afternoon. It was very beautiful in the bush near sunset; the weak rays of

the sinking sun made quee. shadows round the leaves ano branches. The birds were chirping noisily, but once or twice Molly thought she heard a hors--whinny, and as she walked up the track she became positive that there was a horse lost in the bush. The horse could hear her footsteps, she thought, and was trying to attract her attention. She pushed through bramble and bush till she came to a smai) clearing. There was the horse thin, shaggy, and uncared for. but showing the undoubted marks of a thoroughbred. It was black, and Molly went up to it and patted its fine head. It was Dinny Dinah. The little white star just below her withers was there, and Dinny rubbed her nose on Molly’s shoulder in her old affectionate way. Rory was found and arrested in his mountain hideout, some 20 miles further back, where he had kept the mare all the time. Dinny* had jumped out of her pen and had wandered nearly half way home when Mollv met her. —T.T.