“All right,” Alec shouted over his shoulder. “He’s headed for the park!” Quickly he climbed the fence, and ran as fast as he could in the direction the stallion had taken. Soon Henry caught up to him in the car. “Climb in, son,” he said. The Black was nowhere to be seen.

THE SEARCH
10

For half an hour Alec and Henry frantically looked for the Black. Up and down the streets they sped in Henry’s car.

“Lucky it’s so early in the morning, Alec—not so many people around,” Henry said.

“What time is it?” Alec asked, never taking his eyes off the road in front of him.

Henry pulled his large silver watch out of his vest pocket. “Seven o’clock,” he grunted.

“We’ve just got to find him, Henry—before it’s too late!” the boy declared.

“What do you mean—too late?” Henry asked.

“I’m afraid of some cops shooting him. Gosh! That would be terrible!”

Henry nodded and pushed his foot harder on the accelerator. The car jumped ahead.

“Turn down this street, Henry—the park’s just ahead; maybe he’s there.”

Alec saw two men on a street corner. “Pull over there, Henry. We’ll ask them if they’ve seen him. They seem to be pretty excited over something!”

Alec leaned out of the car. “Say, Mister,” he yelled, “did you see a horse run down here?”

“Sure did,” one of them answered. “He shot past here like a streak of lightning ten minutes ago! Where the devil did he come from?”

“Thanks,” said Alec without answering the man’s question. The car lurched ahead as Henry stepped on the gas.

“We’re on the right track, anyway, Alec,” Henry said grimly. A few minutes later they entered the park. Henry slowed down. “You look over there, kid—I’ll take care of this side.”

“It’s an awfully big park,” Alec said, discouraged.

“All the better,” grinned Henry. “Not much chance of him hurting anyone then!”

The car rolled through tree-lined roads. Henry and Alec both leaned out the sides of the car. After a few miles they approached the rolling green fairways of the golf course.

“He might have gone out there, Henry,” Alec said. “Plenty of hills, just what he’d be looking for.”

“Let’s park the car here and take a look, Alec,” Henry said as he brought the car to a stop.

Alec had to trot to keep up with Henry’s short but energetic strides across the fairway. The air was cool and crisp, but starting to warm up from the bright sun that was climbing higher and higher in the cloudless blue sky. Their shoes made deep squishing sounds in the early morning dew.

“Going to be a hot day,” muttered Henry, never slowing his pace. Alec jogged beside him. “Hope we can find him before the early morning golfers start coming out,” he said.

When they reached the middle of the fairway, Henry stopped. “You’d better go in the direction of that wood over there,” he said. “I’ll go down this fairway a piece toward that hill. If either of us finds him, give a yell.”