He could see it snaking its way along the Gold Road from Panama to the seaport of Puerto Bello. In his mind’s eye he could see the mule train coming to meet him when he reached land. The captain’s eyes were fixed on his men, but his thoughts raced ahead to the rich land where he was bound. They fell to work furiously, carrying out orders. From forward and aft all hands came running. We must shorten sail, he made up his mind.Ĭupping his hands to his mouth, he bellowed orders: Furl the topgallant sail! Furl the coursers and the maintopsail! Shorten the fore-topsail! When the wind does strike, it will strike with fury. We lie in the latitude of white squalls, he said, a look of vexation on his face. He plucked nervously at his rusty black beard as if that would help him think.

And now this sudden calm, this heavy warning of a storm. The Moor ponies to be delivered to the Viceroy of Peru could not be kept alive much longer. And if he did not get there, and get there soon, he was headed for trouble. He could feel his flesh creep with the sails. It was spilling out of the sails, causing them to quiver and shake. Cursed be that stallion! he muttered under his breath as he stamped forward and back, forward and back. The captain of the Santo Cristo strode the poop deck. It was not the cry of an animal in hunger. On Wednesday in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., after a series of strokes.A WILD, ringing neigh shrilled up from the hold of the Spanish galleon. She sold her first story to a women’s magazine when she was 11 years old. Henry won the coveted Newbery Award for “King of the Wind” and Newbery Honor Awards for “Misty of Chincoteague,” “Justin Morgan Had a Horse,” “Brighty of the Grand Canyon,” “Black Gold” and “Born to Trot.” Born in Milwaukee, Wis., she was encouraged to write by her publisher father. Misty, the real model for the pony in the novel, died in 1972 and is memorialized by a life-size bronze statue on the island.

Volunteers called “saltwater cowboys” round up the ponies and drive them into the channel. The story centered on Pony Penning Day, a July tradition off the coast of Virginia, in which wild horses from the island of Assateague swim to the island of Chincoteague. The author’s best-known book was “Misty of Chincoteague,” published in 1947 about a brother and sister who dream of owning a wild pony. Marguerite Henry, 95, who wrote 59 youth books about horses.

Author of misty of chincoteague