The Black pranced nervously beside the spring, his nostrils quivering, while Alec rushed back and forth with his little turtle shell full of water, trying to keep the fire from spreading. But it had a good start and soon it had enveloped the whole shelter. Smoke filled the air. The boy and the horse were forced to move farther and farther back.

Soon the two nearby trees caught. Alec knew that the fire could not spread much farther—the island was too barren of any real fuel. But right now the flames were devouring everything in sight. They roared and reached high into the air. There was nothing that Alec could do. The one thing he really needed—his shelter—was gone. And there was no more wood.

The fire burned a long time before it started to die down. Then the wind, too, began to diminish. Alec sat beside the spring, watching the flames, until the first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky. He blinked his smoke-filled eyes, gritted his teeth—he wasn’t licked yet! He’d find some way to make a shelter, and if that wasn’t possible, then he’d sleep outside like the Black.

Determinedly he set out for the beach. Perhaps some wood had been swept ashore during the night. The Black trotted ahead of him. Then Alec saw him snort and rear as he reached the top of the hill, and plunge back down again. Alec hurried forward. From the crest of the hill, he looked down. Below him was a ship anchored four hundred yards off the island!

He heard voices. He saw a rowboat being drawn up on the beach by five men. Incredulous, unable to shout, he rushed down the hill.

“You were right, Pat, there is someone on this island!” he heard one of the men shout to the other.

And the other replied in a thick Irish brogue, “Sure, and I knew I saw a fire reaching into the heavens!”

RESCUE
5

Alec’s eyes blurred; he couldn’t see. He stumbled and fell and then clambered to his feet. Again he rushed forward. Then they had their arms around him.

“For the love of St. Patrick,” the man called Pat groaned, “he’s just a boy!”

Words jumbled together and stuck in Alec’s throat as he looked into the five pairs of eyes staring at him. Then he found his voice. “We’re saved!” he yelled. “We’re saved, Black, we’re saved!”

The sailors looked at him—he was a strange sight! His red hair was long and disheveled, his face and body so brown that they would have taken him for a native had it not been for the torn remnants of his clothing, which hung loosely on him.

One of the men stepped forward. From his uniform he was obviously the captain of the ship. “Everything is going to be all right, son,” he said as he placed an arm around Alec and steadied him.

Slowly Alec gained control of himself. “I’m okay now, sir,” he said.