An’ we aim to do it again, don’t we?”

“We sure do, Henry.”

“But there’s something else, Alec,” the old man continued, and now there was a hard, brittle ring to his voice. “Another reason why I’d get out, even if your colt hadn’t arrived. It’s Boldt … Boldt himself.” Henry paused. “He’s half horse, Alec, but not in the same way that mebbe you and I are an’ a lot of other people we know. Boldt, with all his horses, wants more horses … all he can get, just as long as they’re fast. He wants ’em because he fears them, is afraid one of ’em might beat his own. I know from what I’ve seen, Alec, that it’s been his ambition for years to have the fastest horses in the world. With his Shooting Star he came into his own, an’ now he has his gray colt and figures there’s no stoppin’ him.” Henry turned to Alec. “When I was a kid an’ lived in the rangelands, I saw men like Boldt; and my father saw lots more and had rough dealin’s with a good many of ’em. They stop at nothin’, Alec. Nothin’. Boldt hired me because he knew I’d just come back from Arabia with you and Mr. Volence, and he figured I could tell him a lot about those four Arabian horses Abu Ishak had given Volence. He was afraid of those horses, Alec, and he thought he could get to Volence through me.”

Alec well remembered the horses Abu Ishak had given Mr. Volence, their friend, who had made possible their trip to Arabia in search of the Black. “They were fine horses,” Alec said quietly, “but they couldn’t run on the same track with the Black. Even Volence knew that.”

“Sure,” grunted Henry, “but by breeding ’em to some of his good stock down in Kentucky, Volence hoped to get something. I suspect the first foals have already come along by this time. But getting back to Boldt, he tried for months to get me to talk about Volence’s Arabians ’n’ even Abu Ishak. I kept my mouth shut and played dumb ’til there came a time when old Boldt would pass me by without noddin’ his head. And that’s the way it went. Later I heard he went and tried to buy the horses from Volence, and when Volence wouldn’t sell, Boldt swore he’d get even.”

“Nice guy,” muttered Alec sarcastically. He thought a minute, then added, “I wonder what Boldt would do if he learned about the Black’s colt being here?”

“That’s what we’ve got to keep from him as long as possible, Alec. With his money and pull he could make things uncomfortable some way. The horses Volence brought back are peanuts compared to what your little baby there in back is worth to Boldt. He told me once’t that it was his supreme ambition to own a wild desert stallion like the Black. But he can’t get to him, an’ he knows it. If he learns the Black’s son is here … well, Alec, we’ve just got to keep it from him as long as we can. Then when the time comes, we’ll figure out what to do.”

“Yes,” Alec said, “no sense worrying about it now.”

They had reached the truck route running parallel to the Parkway leading to Flushing, and in less than half an hour they’d arrive home. Alec wondered if his father had taken Sebastian to Flushing, then decided that it all depended on how seriously Sebastian was hurt.