Silence hung heavily about the room until, suddenly, it was shattered by Tom’s explosive laughter. “You’re both too soft,” he said angrily. And then, to Steve, “Why, I wasn’t any older than you when I used my first bottle on a horse’s head. We toughened up pretty young in those days.” He stopped, turned to Pitch. “Or did we?” he added, smiling. “Perhaps I’m mistaken. Perhaps it was pretty much up to the man himself.” Once more he addressed himself to Steve. “Phil left England to go to college in the States, while I joined up with the British Army and went to India. I got put in the cavalry, and that’s where I learned the bottle trick. We used to get a lot of our horses from Australia in those days. They were ugly-looking animals called Walers. Uglier than the ones from Azul Island, and much bigger, too. They had a nasty way of throwing their heads back at you. The way we stopped them was with the bottle.” Tom paused, smiling. “Yes,” he added, “first the bull whip, running them until they’re groggy, then finish up with the bottle. It never fails to break a horse—one who’ll give you a decent fight.”

Steve raised his eyes and studied Tom. Was that it? he asked himself. Was it the thrill of overpowering an animal in physical combat that Tom enjoyed so much? Tom was looking at him, nodding his large head. Nodding as though he had no trouble reading Steve’s every thought.

“Yes,” Tom said, still smiling. “It’s a pity that there were so few horses with any spirit in this last group from Azul Island. There were only three of the whole lot of thirty that put up any sort of a scrap. They seem to have less spirit than they ever had. Now, fifteen years ago when I first went to the island it was different. There’d be about ten or more who’d give me a good workout.”

Tom was silent, and Steve thought he had finished until he suddenly said, “There’s no other reason I want to bring in these horses from Azul. They don’t make any money for me. Nobody will pay much for them. And then ten percent of whatever I do get has to go to the government. It doesn’t leave me with anything. Oh, I didn’t mind when I could look forward to a little fun, but if the horses don’t show more spirit next time, I’ll let someone else go to Azul Island.”