“Say, that is starting something,” said Alec.

“You said it, son; he’ll have everybody on his neck before this day is out!”

“He didn’t come right out and suggest that the Black run in the match race, though, Henry,” Alec said.

“No—but he’s left the door wide open and you can bet somebody will suggest it.”

“Gee, I hope it works, Henry. Just think, the Black against Cyclone and Sun Raider. Boy! What a race!”

“You said it!” Henry agreed. Then he paused for a minute. “Say, Alec, wonder if we did get the Black in the race—how do you think your folks would take it? About you ridin’, I mean.”

Alec’s eyes met Henry’s. “They just gotta let me ride, Henry. They’ll understand, I’m sure, especially after we tell them how I’ve been riding the Black at Belmont. Funny thing, Henry—Mother decided last night that she’s going to Chicago middle of next week to visit my aunt for a couple of weeks. She’ll be there at the same time as the match race!”

“Whew,” said Henry, “that’s somethin’!”

“Mother isn’t interested in races; she probably won’t even go to see it! You know, Henry, as long as we don’t even know yet whether the Black is going to be in the race, I won’t even mention it to Mother. If the Black does get in—I’ll talk it all over with Dad; he’ll understand.”

“Hope so,” answered Henry.

When Alec looked over the evening papers that night, he saw that Henry certainly was right about everybody’s jumping on Jim Neville’s neck. The sports pages were filled with articles ridiculing Jim’s “insane idea” that there was a horse in America—yes, right here in New York—that could beat the two champions!

Because Jim Neville’s column was carried in papers from coast to coast, and because he was one of the foremost sports authorities in the country, his articles on the mystery horse aroused more and more curiosity with every day that passed. And in spite of the criticism that he was getting, Jim wouldn’t let the public forget about his mystery horse. Each day in his column he would carry a paragraph about him. Each night on his network sports program, he would again mention him.

One sports writer wrote, “Only a figure as well-known as Jim Neville could have created such a hullabaloo as is now going on over the merits of a mystery horse that Neville claims can beat both Sun Raider and Cyclone!”

A week passed and the small snowball that Jim had started rolling continued to gain momentum. “Who is this mystery horse?” the racing public wanted to know. Jim’s only reply was that he had promised to keep his name a secret, but that he could get him at a moment’s notice.

He called Henry and Alec on the telephone. “Don’t run him at Belmont any more,” he told them. “This is getting bigger than I had even hoped it would. We’ll have the Black in that race yet!”