West With the Night

Markham’s father loses his farm and ranch after a drought financially destroys the sawmill and gristmill. Charles tells his daughter that he is going to move to Peru and train horses there. He offers her the option of going with him or, since she is already a very capable horse trainer, remaining in what is now called the Colony of Kenya. Immediately, Markham decides that she will stay in Africa and train horses herself.

Charles counsels her, “Go to Molo […] There are stables at Molo that you could use. Remember that you are still just a girl and do not expect too much—there are few owners here and there who will give you horses to train” (135). As she rides Pegasus toward Molo, a place she’s unfamiliar with, it occurs to her that she is like Don Quixote and that her task—persuading people to let her train their horses—will be as futile as his quest. The trip along the road brings back many memories of her youth in Njoro.

Now 18 years old and living in a hut near the stables where she trains horses, Markham looks over her list of tasks for the coming days. In six weeks, there will be races in Nairobi, for which she is preparing horses.