How much money will I need to ship Flame home? he wondered. I’ll have to find out before I send my cable. If it’s only one hundred dollars I have that much saved up. In that case, I’ll say, “PLEASE SEND ME MY ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. URGENT. I HAVE FOUND MY STALLION.”

No. Perhaps stallion isn’t the best word to use. It might frighten them. I’d better make it horse. I’ll say, “PLEASE SEND ME MY ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS. URGENT. I HAVE FOUND MY HORSE.”

It still doesn’t sound right, he thought. They’ll never understand how important it is to me from that. I’m sure it would be much better if I put it in a letter. I could really tell them how I feel about Flame in a letter. I’ll write to Dad. He should understand. He knows how I feel about horses better than Mom does.

It was early the fourth evening when their burning torch disclosed the fork in the tunnel ahead. Steve saw Pitch come to an abrupt stop, then move close to the right wall.

And in the light each saw it—a large arrow, drawn by them days, or was it weeks, ago? Simultaneously they both cried out, but then afterward they stood quietly before it, neither saying a word.

For both knew they could leave now, anytime they pleased. And they could return to Blue Valley just as easily. Also, they could open the upper doors of the sea entrance for their launch and carry away what they both wanted so desperately. But what would be the outcome? Would it mean that this world would be theirs no longer? Would Tom and others search for the entrance to Blue Valley until they found it?

As they linked arms they smiled, each wondering what the other was thinking.

LAST DAY

18

Steve sat quietly on Flame’s back, his hands softly stroking the sleek neck. He had been astride his horse since his arrival in the valley at dawn. Throughout the day he had sat there, longer than ever before. For this day was different from any of the others—this was his fourteenth day on the island, and tomorrow morning he and Pitch would return to Antago.

“But I’ll be back in a few days,” he told Flame. “I’ll be back to get you, and then we’ll never be separated again.”

We’ll never be separated again.

Would it be like that? he asked himself over and over again. Would his mother and father understand his love for Flame as he thought they would? Would Tom keep his word to let him have any horse on Azul Island once he set eyes on Flame? And if he did, would Tom believe him when he told him that he had found Flame on the plain?