He ran to the end of the barn, stopping before the bales of straw piled high against the wall. Taking one bale, he carried it to the door of the tack room and set it down on the floor. He went inside the room, removing the old chest and the chairs. When he had the room clear, he carried the bale of straw inside and with a pitchfork spread it about the floor. He went back for another bale and spread this, too, until the bedding was high. Then he got a bale of hay and placed it in a far corner of the room.

It was only then that he went to the Black’s stall. The stallion came to him. “I’m going to move you for a while,” Alec said, “… just for a little while.”

Taking the Black by the halter, he led him from the stall. They went down the barn toward the tack room, the stallion’s eyes shifting curiously. The Black stopped before the door, refusing to go inside. Patiently Alec waited, talking to him all the while.

“I know you’d like to go out in the field,” Alec said anxiously. “But you’ll have to wait until later … maybe tonight.”

The stallion snorted, his eyes large and wondering.

Alec moved in front of him and stood inside the room. “Come on, fellow,” he said. “You’ll like it in here … there’s plenty of room, much more than in your old stall.”

Abruptly the stallion moved, following Alec inside the tack room. The boy let go of his halter and stood in the doorway while the Black moved curiously about the room, the heavy straw silencing the sound of his restless hoofs.

Alec remained there until the Black found the hay in the corner and began to eat; then he left the room, closing the door behind him. There was still much to be done. Alec ran the length of the barn and went outside. He returned almost immediately, pushing a wheelbarrow to the Black’s empty stall. Working hurriedly, he piled it high with the straw the stallion had used for bedding and wheeled it out to the manure pile in back of the barn. It took two more trips before the stall was clean of straw; then Alec removed the water pail from the corner of the stall and set it outside.

There was no evidence now that the stall had been occupied only a few minutes ago. From all appearances, there was only one stall being used in the barn and that, he would tell the reporters, was used by Napoleon.

Alec listened for any sound of the Black in the tack room. But the barn was still, and he knew that only a nicker or snort from the Black would give his presence away. Alec’s plan was to keep the reporters away from the barn, except for a quick look, if they insisted, to see that only one stall was being used. The reporters, he figured, would be more interested in questioning him about his retirement from the track, and he would be able to keep them outside.

Alec glanced at his wristwatch. It was four o’clock. He could expect them anytime now. But he was about ready for them; there were just a couple more things to do.

Filling the water pail, Alec took it to the tack room and hung it on a peg near where the Black was eating; then he got some feed, just to make sure the stallion would have enough to eat to keep him occupied for the next hour or so.

As he stood beside the Black, he heard the creaking of the iron gate. Quickly he turned away from the stallion and left the tack room, this time snapping the padlock on the door and placing the key in his pocket.

He was hurrying to the barn door when he heard the sound of hoofs on the gravel driveway … hoofs and the turning wheels of Tony’s cart. The tenseness left his body as he realized it wasn’t the reporters after all.

“Allo, Aleec,” Tony called when he saw the boy standing in the doorway. “Why you no put your Black in the field today?”

Alec waited until Tony had laboriously descended from the cart seat before going to him.