Misty of Chincoteague

After Paul goes home to rest, Maureen and Grandpa follow the ponies from the beach to the pens, where they will wait until some are sold and the rest are returned to Assateague. As they begin to make their way through the woods, the Phantom veers off course, and Maureen worries that she will make a last-minute escape. She cannot move fast with the wobbly colt by her side, though, and Maureen herds them back to the group until they are safely shuttled into the road, where possible escape routes are blocked by cars and spectators.

Most of the ponies seem sad and defeated as they make their way to the pens, but the Phantom’s colt happily trots and hops next to her mother. She seems to like being among the people. The crowd remarks on all the familiar horses in the herd, and many are shocked to see the Phantom among them. When the ponies arrive at the pens, adults are sent into one corral and colts into another. Maureen is saddened by this process; she doesn’t like to hear the babies cry for their mothers after being separated. Some men grab the Phantom’s colt, but to Maureen’s relief they set her back down and let her follow her mother into the adult pen. She is too small to be separated yet.

Once the penning is over, Maureen and Grandpa ride home to tell Grandma and Paul all about it. Paul is still asleep, so Maureen heads out to catch chickens for a neighbor so she can start saving money to buy the colt along with the Phantom. When she gets home, Paul is awake, and they get ready to go to the annual race at the pony-penning grounds. A storm is coming, but Grandpa and Grandma don’t think it is supposed to hit until after the race, so they let the children go. Before they leave, Paul and Maureen start planning how to get the Phantom and the colt; they will give the fire chief their $100 and pay the difference later. Paul refers to the colt as Misty, explaining that she named herself because when she first appeared to him, he thought she was only a wisp of white mist. 

Before the race, Paul and Maureen visit the horse corral to admire their new colt, who by now is definitively named Misty. She is a beautiful color somewhere between gold and silver, with a crooked white blaze on her face and a patch on her side that resembles her mother’s map-shaped mark. They are so engrossed in looking at the horse that they don’t notice the Pied Piper approach them. He stares Paul down, baring his teeth and snorting, and Paul is afraid to move as he knows the large stallion could easily knock him over. Maureen and Paul compliment the Pied Piper, telling him his baby is beautiful. He seems intrigued by Maureen’s calm voice and finally leaves when another stallion approaches his mares.

On the way to the racetrack, Paul and Maureen stop by the colt pens. They have promised Grandpa they will look at the other colts and see if an older, less wild one might be more to their liking. They only have eyes for Misty, but they keep their promise. They can hardly watch as the sad colts pace in the pen, crying and trying to find a source of milk. They find the fire chief and ask him why the colts must be separated from their mothers. The chief assures them that the colts are old enough to be alone; if they were free on Assateague, their mothers would be pushing them away, getting them ready to face the world on their own so they can have more colts. Paul and Maureen, embarrassed for asking such childish questions, head to the racetrack to see Black Comet, the winner for three years running, race against two new horses called Patches and Lucy Lee.

Paul and Maureen’s mood lifts as they approach the crowd at the racetrack. Black Comet proudly makes his way to the track and seems confident that he will win against the unruly Patches and the timid Lucy Lee. As soon as the race starts, his confidence is justified. He immediately pulls ahead of the other two horses and stays in front until he crosses the finish line. Just as Black Comet wins the race, a lightning bolt signals the beginning of a violent storm.

Grandpa finds Paul and Maureen. He instructs Paul to help the fire chief clean up the race area while he and Maureen rush home ahead of the storm. He tells Paul that his truck is next to the colt pens in case he needs to find shelter from the storm. Paul makes his way toward the fire chief, but the storm suddenly rages and the chief yells for everyone to go home. Paul does not obey. He is worried for Misty, thinking a tiny colt might not make it through such violent weather. He runs to the adult corral, hoping he can carry the colt to safety. He runs through the rainy darkness, and a bolt of lightning allows him to locate the Pied Piper’s family, but the Phantom and Misty are not among them. Full of fear, he makes his way toward Grandpa’s truck, worried that the Phantom somehow escaped in the chaos of the storm.

Paul arrives at the truck and is shocked when he senses movement under a tarpaulin in the bed. Although he worries that his eyes are playing tricks on him, another lightning flash reveals the Phantom and Misty huddled in a corner to avoid the rain. He realizes that Grandpa must have led the duo to the truck before the storm to keep them safe. Paul finds Grandpa’s dry coat in the truck cab and puts it on before climbing into the bed to wait out the storm with the horses. At first the Phantom reacts fearfully, but he offers her a chunk of tobacco from Grandpa’s coat pocket, something he has often seen Grandpa give to Watch Eyes. Slowly, the Phantom calms down and approaches him, accepting the treat. Eventually Paul, the Phantom, and Misty fall asleep with Misty’s head resting on Paul’s lap.