"I presume he's rather keyed up because the circus is coming here tomorrow," Nancy remarked.
"To tell you the truth, Miss Drew, Hitch is beside himself. He has declared he won't go near it, but I wonder if he can resist. Anyway, I'm going. I want to see what acts they have now and say hello to my old friends."
As Roberto finished speaking, Hitch led Nancy's mare into the ring. The beautiful gray horse nuzzled the girl as she stroked the animal's velvety nose and murmured:
"Belgian Star, you sweet old thing! We're going to have a good lesson today."
Nancy swung into the saddle and walked her horse counterclockwise several times around the ring. Then Señor Roberto called out:
"Trot!"
Automatically, Nancy sat still for a few strides, then started posting, remembering to take the up motion when the mare's left foreleg was forward in order to get the correct diagonal. The riding master smiled in satisfaction at the rhythm and grace of Nancy's performance.
Next came the canter. Half an hour later, Nancy was ready for stunt riding. First, Hitch removed the saddle, looking darkly at Nancy as he carried it away.
Once more she mounted the horse, this time with only the blanket between her and the mare. Nancy slapped her gently on the flank and the horse began to canter slowly. Being an ex-circus horse, Belgian Star was considerate of her rider.
She seemed to know just the right speed to use, too, as Nancy stood up on the mare's back. Keeping her balance, Nancy went twice around the enclosure. On the third lap she caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure crouching on the ground outside the split-rail fence.
The next moment, a rock sailed through the air directly at Belgian Star's head. The horse reared almost straight up, and Nancy was thrown off.
CHAPTER IIA Suspicious Groom
On the far side of the ring Señor Roberto had witnessed the accident in alarm and dismay. He rushed toward Nancy, who lay still on the turf where she had fallen. As he reached her, the girl's eyelids flickered open.
"Miss Drew!" the riding master cried.
He knelt beside her, hoping that she had broken no bones and that she had not hit her head.
"Miss Drew!" he murmured over and over. "Are you all right?"
Nancy nodded slowly and struggled to a sitting position. Then, with Señor Roberto's assistance, she got to her feet. To the man's amazement, her first words were:
"Is Belgian Star all right?"
It was typical of Nancy not to think of herself first. She had been in many tight spots while solving the various mysteries that had come her way, but the safety of the innocent persons involved had always been her chief concern. Starting with The Secret of the Old Clock, she had proved herself adept in handling difficult situations and bringing many criminals to justice. This had been particularly true in her most recent case, which had come to be known as The Clue of the Velvet Mask.
"Miss Drew," said Señor Roberto, "you look very pale. We'll go into my office and I'll fix you some tea."
Nancy was not to be sidetracked in her concern for Belgian Star. The horse had left the ring and was now out of sight.
"Where did Star go?" she asked. "Is she all right?"
"Well," said Señor Roberto, raising his eyebrows high, "my first concern is for you. But if you insist upon knowing about the horse, we'll find out."
Nancy managed a wan smile. "I didn't mean to seem ungrateful," she said, "but someone hurled a rock at Star's head. It may have injured her."
The riding master stared in amazement. "You say someone threw a rock at the horse?" he asked.
Nancy nodded. "A man was lying on the ground outside the fence. I saw him toss the rock. There it is over on the grass." She pointed.
Señor Roberto looked worried. "I understand now why you were anxious about the mare," he said. "We'll look into this at once. Have you any idea who the person was?"
"No, I haven't," Nancy replied. "I didn't see his face."
Suddenly the riding master bellowed, "Hitch! Hitch! Come here at once!"
The stableman did not appear instantly. But after the third summons he ran from the building.
"Were you out here when Miss Drew fell?" the riding master asked him.
"Why, no, sir," the groom replied. "I didn't even know there'd been any trouble."
"Did you see anyone outside the fence?"
"No, sir."
"Did Belgian Star run into her stall?" Roberto questioned him.
"Yes, she did. Star seemed pretty excited. I've been tryin' to calm her down."
While the riding master explained to his hostler about the accident, Nancy noticed that Hitch was wearing the same kind of clothes and old soft hat as the figure she had seen on the ground. And his suit had fresh dirt on it! Nancy's suspicions were instantly aroused. She gazed beyond the fence to determine whether the man might have had time by now to make a circuitous route back to the stable.
"He could have done it easily," she told herself, staring at the thick woods which came up almost to the fence of the riding ring. "And Hitch, is out of breath from running."
The man who had caused the accident could have crawled into the woods and returned to the academy without being seen.
Nancy turned to Señor Roberto, "How long was I unconscious?" she asked.
"Oh, twenty or thirty seconds—that's all," the riding master replied.
Then Nancy turned to Hitch. "How did you get all that fresh dirt on the front of your clothes?"
Hitch suddenly looked uncomfortable. He did not reply for a few seconds. Instead he countered, "I've heard you're a detective. Is it true?"
Nancy, somewhat taken aback by his question, acknowledged that she was known as an amateur sleuth.
"Then I guess I'd better tell the truth—seein' as how you'll find it out in the end," Hitch said. "I walked around through the woods to watch you do the circus stunts. While I was lookin', I seen a feller lyin' on the ground by the fence. The next thing I knew he threw somethin' at your horse. Then when I seen you fall off I got so scared I beat it. That's when I tripped and fell down in the dirt."
"Have you any idea who the man was?" Señor Roberto inquired in a cold voice.
Hitch said that he had not seen the man's face and was sorry now he had not waited to find out.
"I'm mighty glad you're all right, Miss Drew," Hitch added, and walked back to the stable.
There was nothing more Nancy could do. Despite the groom's story, she felt sure that he was the person who had thrown the stone. But why had he tried to harm her and Belgian Star?
"I'll certainly watch him from now on," Nancy decided.
She told Señor Roberto that she felt fully recovered from her spill, and if Belgian Star were all right, she wanted to continue her riding lesson.
The riding master was about to demur, then changed his mind. He was a firm believer in the idea that a rider who has fallen off should immediately mount his horse again if he has not been injured.
Hitch brought Belgian Star from the stable. Nancy and the riding master carefully examined the mare's nose, and though there was a bruise on it, the horse did not seem to be suffering any pain.
"Are you game to go on with our lesson?" Nancy asked the mare, putting her arms around the animal's gracefully arched neck.
For answer, Belgian Star went into the ring and waited for Nancy to climb on. This time she circled the ring several times before attempting to stand up on the horse's back.
"Am I imagining it or is someone peering at me from among those trees?" she asked herself, trying to shrug off a distrustful mood.
As she rounded the curve on the next lap, Nancy was sure she was not wrong—someone was watching her. A feeling of uneasiness came over her.
Nancy had just about decided to practice stunt riding when a voice hailed her. She turned abruptly to see two girls running from the woods. They climbed onto the fence, laughing.
"Bess! George!" Nancy cried. "Where did you come from?"