So I high-tailed it down.” Henry wiped his sun-blackened face with his handkerchief, removed his battered hat and fanned himself. “Hotter here than it is out west,” he said; then, bending over, he patted Sebastian, who stood close beside Alec. “He yours, Alec?” he asked.

“Dad’s and mine,” Alec replied. “He’s Sebastian.”

“He sure is a cute feller,” Henry said, fondling Sebastian’s long ears. “He’s a cross between a lot of things, ain’t he?” He smiled. Then Henry’s gaze turned to the Queen of India as she moved slowly toward the pier, and his eyes met Alec’s. Neither said anything for a few seconds, but each knew what the other was thinking.

“Papers on you?” Henry finally asked. “Got the van?”

Alec nodded. “Everything’s set, Henry.” He paused, but his eyes never left those of his friend. “And the registration papers are home.” For a second or two after he had finished speaking he wondered if Henry would go through with their plans to raise and train the colt for the track. Henry had a big job now; he was making big money. Alec shifted uneasily on his feet.

Then into Henry’s steady gray eyes came the look which Alec had hoped to see, and the old man said, “I’m glad it’s a colt, Alec. Maybe he’ll be like him.”

“That’s asking almost too much.” The comment came from Alec’s father.

Henry turned to him, then to Alec; and a look born of long association and understanding passed between the trainer and Alec. “I meant, Mr. Ramsay,” Henry said, his gaze returning to the tall man who towered above him, “that I hoped the colt would have the perfect conformation of his sire.”

“I know exactly what you meant, Henry,” Mr. Ramsay replied quietly.

Alec looked at his father. There was a certain tenseness about his face which hadn’t been there before, yet his eyes were without the sternness that they showed when his father was angry. Did he have any idea as to what he and Henry intended to do? Alec planned to tell him in time, but not for many months … not until he was certain that the son of the Black was ready for the track.

Mr. Ramsay spoke again to Henry. “No, I don’t blame you for hoping he’s like his sire.” His gaze included Alec. “Either one of you,” he added. “It’s just that I’m hoping he doesn’t have that wild, untamable spirit of the Black.”

Henry smiled. “No fear of that, Mr. Ramsay. You mustn’t forget that the Black was a full-grown stallion when Alec got hold of him. An’ he never was clear broke … never will be, for that matter. It was just his love for Alec that made him tolerate the rest of us.” Henry paused and nodded his head in the direction of the Queen of India as she neared the pier. “Now this one ain’t goin’ to be anything like that, Mr. Ramsay. The schooling and breaking of this colt ain’t goin’ to be like it was with the Black, or like perhaps you’ve seen or heard with broncs in the rodeos and the like.