Black Stallion and Satan Read Online Free Page B

fall might even have been due to his own negligence. Perhaps the Black had stumbled while in full gallop; perhaps Abu hadn’t been ready for it.
    But, then, why had Tabari planned to destroy the Black, if her father’s death had been accidental? Why?
    The Black knew no master. Had Abu forgotten? Had he sought to dominate the fiery will of the stallion? Had he fought him and lost? Was that the reason Tabari would have the Black destroyed?
    Alec opened his eyes. He didn’t want to know the answers. It was much better that he never know.
    I must only remember, he thought, that the Black’s unlike any other horse in the world. If I remember that, I have nothing to fear. I can’t dominate his will, any more than Abu could do it. I must ask of him, never demand. He must do it of his own accord, because he wants to do what I ask of him. It’s not the way it should be, but it’s his way. No one could change him now.…
    They heard the drone of the plane before they were able to distinguish its light from the stars. They watched it come in, dropping lower and lower toward the field.
    “This could be it,” Henry said.
    As the plane’s wheels touched the runway, Alec made out the company’s name, Trans-World, on its side. “This is it, Henry! He’s here!”
    They left the van and went to the wire fence which kept them from the field. The plane came off the main runway and taxied toward them, its silver body glistening in the lights that played upon it.
    Henry stopped staring at the plane and looked around. Luckily, they were far from the center of the field’s activity and there was no one in their immediate vicinity except for a few Trans-World cargo employees who were awaiting the plane. “Now the less fuss we have around here the better,” he told Alec. “I’ll check the office again to make sure all the papers are in order.” Henry walked toward the lighted building to their rear, but Alec never turned from the plane.
    It was a few minutes before it came to a stop a short distance from him. He saw three men in whitecoveralls go to meet it. The engines were raced to a high pitch by the pilot, then cut.
    Alec waited for the wide cargo doors to open, his heart pounding. He turned to the gate, a little way beyond him, and to the man attending it; then his gaze swept to the Trans-World office as he looked anxiously for Henry.
    Turning back to the plane, he found the doors still unopened. He was moving along the fence toward the gateman when Henry came running up to him.
    “We can take him once he’s off,” Henry said. “No quarantine is necessary. He’s been checked out.”
    “Let’s get up to the gate then,” Alec replied, without stopping.
    “Take it easy,” his friend cautioned. “They’ll get him off all right. It’s just a consignment to them now, so let’s not make it any more than that.”
    Reaching the gateman, Henry handed him the clearance he’d received from the office, and the man checked it against his list. “They’ll have him off in a few minutes,” he said.
    Alec saw the cargo doors open. A man appeared and called to the men on the ground. He left the doorway but reappeared a few seconds later, pushing out a long wooden ramp. When they had the ramp set up it extended from the doors of the plane to the ground.
    Suddenly the long, piercing whistle of the Black shattered the night but died quickly beneath the roar of a plane going down the runway.
    Alec’s hand went quickly to the chain extending across the entrance to the field; then he stopped, turning to Henry. “Maybe I could help them,” he said.
    Henry smiled at the gateman, “We’re a little anxious about our horse.”
    “No need to worry,” the gateman replied. “We sort of specialize in carrying horses and animals of all kinds. Never had any trouble yet.”
    Henry nodded agreeably, but Alec turned anxiously back to the plane. The Black uttered another shrill scream; then came the sharp ring of his hoofs striking