Okay. G’bye.”

Mr. Volence turned from the telephone and joined Alec and Henry. “Well, that starts the ball rolling, and inside a couple of days I should have something.”

“Then what?” Alec asked.

“Well, Alec, if there’s any chance of locating Abu Ishak, I’ll cable him to find out whether or not he’ll sell the Black and, if not, whether he has any other horses that he’ll sell. If he’s receptive to my offer I’ll go to Arabia on your hunch that he may be a past master at this horse-breeding game and has some horses that are worth buying. If the Black is any sample of the type of horses he’s breeding I want to see the others. I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do if I can’t reach Abu Ishak … it’ll all depend on how much information I can obtain as to his whereabouts. I just don’t want to go to Arabia on a wild-goose chase. However, you can be sure that if there’s the slightest chance of finding Abu Ishak, I’ll go.”

Alec’s eyes were aflame with excitement. This was the moment he’d been waiting for. “If you go … you wouldn’t … what I meant to say is … could you use another man to help you get those horses back?”

Mr. Volence smiled. “Ah, the light dawns,” he said. “Say, perhaps you saw this coming up right along. A good job of engineering, Alec.” He placed a hand on his shoulder. “Seriously,” he continued, “if I go, I’d like to have you come along. As you know Abu Ishak, you’d probably be able to help quite a bit.”

“Sure,” Henry broke in, “and don’t forget if it wasn’t for Alec, the Black wouldn’t be alive today. Abu knows that … in fact, he offered the kid a reward, but he refused it.” Henry’s gaze shifted from Mr. Volence to the brown house across the street, which could be seen through the living room window. “Couldn’t use still another man, could you?” he asked anxiously.

“I could, if the other man were you, Henry, and you’d be satisfied with just expenses paid … no more.”

“Would I!” Henry shouted. “It’s a deal!”

They walked toward the door. “Well, here’s hoping nothing stops us from going to Arabia,” Mr. Volence said. “I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I’ve made all the arrangements. Meanwhile, Alec, you’d better speak to your parents to see if it’s okay with them, so there will be no delay if we go.”

Three days later Alec received a letter from Mr. Volence, and without opening it he ran over to the barn. He found Henry cleaning the Black’s bridle. “It’s here!” he shouted, waving the letter in the air. They sat down on the bench and Alec tore open the envelope. “Cross your fingers, Henry,” he said.

Down Under Farm
June 26th             

Dear Alec and Henry,

I’ve exhausted all available sources and the only information that I could get concerning Abu Ja‘ Kub ben Ishak is that he’s a chieftain of a small kingdom somewhere in the Kharj district, which is far to the east across the Great Central Desert of Arabia, and incidentally the least explored part of the country.