“What do you know, Henry, I forgot all about Whiff and Bill,” Alec said. “They’re still in the barn.… Come on out, fellows. I’ll hold the Black here.”

The two boys came out, a little sheepishly.

“Guess we’d better get home to lunch,” Whiff said. They hurried down the driveway as the stallion screamed softly.

“Guess they believe me now,” Alec said, grinning.

After dinner that same night, Alec went back to the barn. Tony had already stabled old Napoleon for the night. Alec saw him shove his white nose over into the Black’s stall to steal some of his oats. The Black playfully nipped him, and Napoleon quickly withdrew his head. Alec couldn’t get over the fancy the Black had taken to Napoleon. He wasn’t afraid to leave him alone now, for as long as the old, gray horse was around, the stallion was quiet. A little later Alec bedded the Black’s stall, turned out the lights and went home.

Days passed into weeks, weeks into months. And Alec’s life, from the moment his alarm awakened him at five o’clock every morning until he closed his books at night, became as regular as a time clock. Always in the morning before school, he would feed, groom and ride the Black around the field. If the weather was nice, he would leave him outside, knowing Henry would be around to watch him. He didn’t have time for games after school with the fellows any more. He had too many things to do. He would rush home at 12:30, as soon as his last class was over, eat lunch and then once again go to the stables where Henry was usually waiting for him.

Henry had received an answer from his friend in the Jockey Club, giving him the address of a Stud Book Registry Office in the Middle East. “It’s very doubtful whether they can help you, though,” he wrote, “as you have so little information to work on. However, I’m sure that they will do their best.”

Henry wrote to them. “Now all we can do is wait and hope,” he told Alec. “It will take a long time. That isn’t going to stop us from training the Black, though. I want to put a watch on that fella—even if we aren’t ever able to put him in a race!”

They hadn’t attempted to put saddle or bridle on the Black yet. Henry wanted to wait until spring. The weather became cold and the ground hard.

“Our real work begins in the spring,” Henry told Alec. “Now we’ll just take it easy!” Under Henry’s expert tutelage, Alec’s riding skill became greater and greater until Henry nodded with approval. “A grand combination,” he said to himself as he watched the boy ride high on the stallion’s withers as he galloped down the field.

After the workouts, Alec would usually spend the rest of the afternoon doing the odd jobs around home which his father gave him. “Have to earn your allowance,” his father said.