A minute later he was leading the stallion to the mower, letting him sniff it to find out it was nothing to fear or fight.

Henry went into the van to get the two folded cots they were to use as their beds; then he removed the blankets from the trunk and hung them over a line to air.

Alec was bringing the stallion up the row when Henry turned to them again. The Black saw the blankets waving in the breeze and came to a stop, snorting. His eyes never left the blankets as he pawed the earth with his forefoot.

“Only a couple of blankets,” Alec said softly. He waited a few minutes, then moved the Black toward them. The stallion snorted repeatedly and his lips curled, but he moved quickly beside Alec. Stopping just before the blankets, Alec let the stallion go to them. The Black sniffed them and then after a few minutes turned away.

“Everything is strange to him now,” Alec told Henry. “But he’ll get used to it.” He paused. “I’ll walk him to the track now and let him take a good look at it.”

Henry joined Alec as the boy led the stallion up the long row. When they reached the end, they were near the far turn of the track, and the homestretch going past the grandstand stretched before them.

“It’s a nice, clean racing plant,” Henry said. “The track looks mighty good.”

“Shall we walk around it, Henry?”

“If you want. It’s a good idea to know what we’ll be running over.”

“Shall we take him with us?”

Henry turned to the stallion, standing quietly beside Alec. “I guess it’ll be all right.”

“The sooner he gets used to it the better,” Alec said.

They left the row and went to the gate leading onto the track. “Keep a good hold of him now,” Henry said as they walked through the gate. “Let’s get over near the rail.”

With his neck highly arched, the Black stepped lightly beside Alec, sometimes moving a few strides ahead of him and pulling a little. His head and eyes were in constant motion, turning to the empty stands on his right and to the green grass of the infield on his left.

“He’d like to go a little,” Alec said as they went along.

“This walk oughta take some of it out of him,” Henry replied, his eyes on the track. “Can you keep him down?”

“Sure. But he’d still like to go.”

They moved slowly about the great oval, Henry’s eyes leaving the track footing only to look at the Black.

“He wasn’t any trouble at all,” Alec said when they arrived back at the gate. “It’s just as though he knows what this is all about.”

“He seems all right now, Alec,” Henry agreed. “But it’s still too early to tell much.”

“Would it be all right if I got up on him?” Alec asked eagerly.

“Y’mean now … without a bridle or saddle?”

“It doesn’t make any difference to him.”

“Or to you?” Henry asked.

“No bit can hold him when he wants to run. I can do as well without one.”

Henry was silent for a while, then he said, “Go ahead, Alec, if you think it’ll do him any good. You know him better than I do. But keep him to a slow gallop, if you can.”

Alec moved to the side of the Black, raising his knee for Henry to boost him onto the stallion’s back. A quick heave by Henry and he was up, and the Black displayed no uneasiness.

His knees pressed firmly against the stallion, Alec leaned forward to unsnap the lead shank from the halter. “I won’t need this,” he told Henry, tossing it to him.

The trainer stepped back as the Black crabstepped, then went into a trot. Going to the outside rail, Henry leaned upon it, his eyes never once leaving Alec and the Black. He saw the boy’s hands slip a little farther down the stallion’s neck as he leaned forward. Obediently the Black moved closer to the inside rail and went into his long, loping canter as they passed the stands. Henry knew that the stallion was obeying Alec’s every command; just now the boy had full control over him.

The stallion swept around the first turn, his strides gradually lengthening, his head carried high with ears pricked. But there was no wildness to his gait, no evidence of the fiery energy that Henry knew burned within him.

“Maybe Alec will be able to do it,” he said.