He would remain awake the rest of the night. Tomorrow and during the days that followed, when normal life resumed, he would forget Koví. It would be as if this night had never been.

Meanwhile he sought inner peace and comfort from the tranquility of the swamp. The skies were clear and for a long while Alec listened to the stillness of the night. He felt absolutely alone in the world. There came to him the gentle sound of a breeze stirring the palm fronds and water.

His heart resumed its normal beat. Taut muscles relaxed. He responded to his freedom from the nightmare by walking across the room and back. Suddenly he came to a stop before the window again, every sense alert.

He had heard a sound outside. It was not the lapping of the water or the stirring of a palm frond. It was the soft stealth of moving feet, not those of an animal but a man!

His keen eyes searched the darkness for movement that would betray another’s presence. A moment passed, then a black silhouette stepped around the corner of the house into the moonlight. The figure stood still, legs astride. Was it Odin returning from the Indian village? The silhouette was too large and tall for him, more the size of the captain, Alec decided.

He waited for the figure to move, hoping the man would pass beneath his window so he might see him better. Finally the figure strode silently by and Alec had no trouble recognizing the captain.

Alec stepped back from the window. He had no intention of leaving the room. He cared nothing about what the captain did at night; it was no concern of his. The captain might well be off to his eternal quest of Koví. It made no difference. He would remain in the bedroom until dawn.

It was only as the moments passed that Alec’s resolution wavered. He wondered if he might not be doing exactly what the captain had planned. What if the captain’s story of Koví had been only a hoax to frighten him into keeping to his room, asleep or not? The captain coveted the Black for his mare. Perhaps he had no intention of waiting until the end of the racing season to breed his mare as had been agreed, not when he had the opportunity to do it now!

Distant, muffled snorts reached Alec’s ears and he went quickly to the door, his decision made. A cold anger swept over him as he ran down the stairs. The captain took what he wanted; he was as remorseless as he was powerful; he would stop at nothing to breed his mare to the Black!

Alec opened the front door and sped down the porch steps into the night. He ran across the yard, knowing what he had to do. No hands would touch the Black but his own. This he would fight for, regardless of the odds against him.

There was no caution to his movements as he approached the barn. He heard the Black’s shrill neigh, meant clearly for the mare, and he knew he was too late.

THE FIGHT
10

Alec stopped at the barn. The horses were behind it and not far away.