Free The Painted Horse by Bonnie Bryant

this storm got even worse.
    Stevie spotted a man scurrying past the gazebo, fighting to keep his umbrella intact. She dashed back out into the hail. “Which way to Belvedere Castle?” she asked him.
    “You can’t go there in this mess,” he said.
    “I have to,” Stevie said. She had a vision of Ms. Dodge running with her arms up, chasing her scarf. She and Mrs. Martin didn’t know anything about weather and storms. They might not have made it to the shelter of the castle. They could be in trouble. “I need to get there right away,” she said to the man.
    She heard clopping and splashing. She turned and a huge brown thing with a huge yellow thing on top appeared out of the hail. It was the mounted policeman, wearing a yellow poncho.
    “What’re you doing here?” he said.
    “It’s kind of a long story,” said Stevie.
    “No more excuses,” the policeman said. “Who are you and what are you doing here? You shouldn’t be out here alone.”
    Stevie realized this was no time for wild stories. “I’m Stevie Lake. I’m here with my class, except I got separated from them. I’m worried about them, and they may be worried about me.”
    The policeman nodded. “Where were they when you last saw them?”
    “They were headed for Belvedere Castle from the New-York Historical Society,” Stevie said.
    “Right,” the policeman said. “I’ll put out an alert.” He pulled his walkie-talkie out from under his poncho and talked into it.
    “Visibility is poor in the hail,” the policeman said.
    “Officers will be looking for them, but they may not see them.”
    Stevie felt like crying. “We’ve got to find them as soon as possible.”
    The policeman thought a minute. “You seem pretty crazy about horses. Are you a good rider?”
    “Pretty good,” Stevie said with a quaver in her voice.
    “Why don’t you get on my horse with me?” he said.
    “I’d love to,” Stevie said.
    The policeman nodded and leaned down to help Stevie up.
    “Er—wait one second. What’s your horse’s name?” said Stevie.
    “Billy,” said the policeman.
    Stevie went to Billy’s head and said, “Do you mind if I ride you?” Billy nickered and nuzzled her.
    Stevie moved back around and took the policeman’s hand. She settled quickly behind him, and they set out across the park.
    They went over a bridge to the edge of a huge meadow where the grass had been flattened by hail. There was no one else to be seen.
    The hail fell slantways, bouncing off Stevie’s nose and down Billy’s mane. Stevie knew that horses hate hail, but Billy was very brave.
    Stevie and the policeman rode around a lake that was splashing and bubbling with hail. They went throughwoods, and then Stevie saw a high building built on a rock. From up there the view would be great when it wasn’t hailing. She knew this must be Belvedere Castle.
    The policeman steered the horse up the rise. They came to brightly painted wooden stairs.
    “You stay here,” he said, dismounting and handing her the reins.
    But Stevie couldn’t just sit there. She had to see her class. She slid off Billy, tied the reins to the railing, and ran up the stairs.
    The castle was empty.
    “They never made it,” Stevie said.
    The policeman pulled the walkie-talkie from under his slicker and spoke into it. “We’ve got a school group missing somewhere in the neighborhood of Belvedere Castle.” The walkie-talkie exploded with words that Stevie couldn’t understand.
    “No one has seen them,” the policeman said.
    Stevie knew she had to be calm. “Something happened on the way here,” she said. She looked down on the park, trying to figure out where they might be. Directly below the castle was a winding walk with a garden planted around it.
    “Let’s look over there,” she said.
    “Let’s get back on Billy,” the policeman said. “We’ll be able to see better from up there.”
    As the policeman guided the horse down the walk,Stevie’s mind filled with pictures of the