The Black Stallion

UNMATCHED AND UNBROKEN

He was a giant of a horse, glistening black—too big to be pure Arabian. The head was that of the wildest of all wild creatures—a stallion born wild—and it was beautiful, savage, splendid. A stallion with a wonderful physical perfection that matched his savage, ruthless spirit.

Once again the Black screamed and rose on his hind legs. Alec could hardly believe his eyes and ears—a stallion, a wild stallion—unbroken, such as he had read and dreamed about!

THE BLACK STALLION SERIES
BY WALTER FARLEY

The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion Returns
Son of the Black Stallion
The Island Stallion
The Black Stallion and Satan
The Black Stallion’s Blood Bay Colt
The Island Stallion’s Fury
The Black Stallion’s Filly
The Black Stallion Revolts
The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt
The Island Stallion Races
The Black Stallion’s Courage
The Black Stallion Mystery
The Horse-Tamer
The Black Stallion and Flame
Man o’ War
The Black Stallion Challenged!
The Black Stallion’s Ghost
The Black Stallion and the Girl
The Black Stallion Legend
The Young Black Stallion (with Steven Farley)

Copyright © 1941 by Walter Farley
Copyright renewed 1969 by Walter Farley
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 41-21882
eISBN: 978-0-307-80492-1

v3.1

To Mother, Dad and Bill

CONTENTS

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

  1. Homeward Bound

  2. The Storm

  3. The Island

  4. The Wildest of All Wild Creatures

  5. Rescue

  6. King of the Herd

  7. Home

  8. Napoleon

  9. Escape

10. The Search

11. Partners

12. Training Begins

13. Night Ride

14. Cyclone and Sun Raider

15. The Mystery Horse

16. Preparation

17. Chicago

18. The Match Race

About the Author

HOMEWARD BOUND
1

The tramp steamer Drake plowed away from the coast of India and pushed its blunt prow into the Arabian Sea, homeward bound. Slowly it made its way west toward the Gulf of Aden. Its hold was loaded with coffee, rice, tea, oil seeds and jute. Black smoke poured from its one stack, darkening the hot cloudless sky.

Alexander Ramsay, known to his friends back home in New York City as Alec, leaned over the rail and watched the water slide away from the sides of the boat. His red hair blazed redder than ever in the hot sun; his tanned elbows rested heavily on the rail as he turned his freckled face back toward the fast-disappearing shore.

It had been fun—those two months in India. He would miss Uncle Ralph, miss the days they had spent together in the jungle, even the screams of the panthers and the many eerie sounds of the jungle night. Never again would he think of a missionary’s work as easy work.