The Black Stallion Challenged Read Online Free Page B

and he was surprised at the casualness of his voice. “And what for?” Steve Duncan would not want the money for anything foolish. Of that Alec was convinced now. There was no doubt Steve knew what he was after, and that he had a plan to get it.
    “I need sixty-five thousand dollars to buy an island,” Steve answered. It was said the same way most people would have talked about earning money for a home or food or any of the basic necessities of life.
    “An island,” Alec repeated, his voice as matter-of-fact as Steve’s. Two guys talking. It was the way it could go sometimes. “You going to live there?”
    “No, but my horse does.”
    “Oh,” Alec said, as if Steve had explained everything. “I thought you might have won your race horse in a contest or something. You know there’s a pipe tobacco company that gives away two race horses every year just for naming them.”
    “I didn’t get Flame that way,” Steve answered. “You know it’s funny about those contests,” he went on seriously. “For years I tried to win a horse that way. But it was always women who won those contests.”
    “Housewives,” Alec added, as serious as Steve. “I don’t understand it either.”
    The Black moved around them in a tight circle and their gazes turned to him.
    “Is your island nearby?” Alec asked Steve.
    “No, it’s ’way down in the Caribbean Sea.” Steve hesitated, his eyes wavering a moment, then meeting Alec’s again. “It’s in the Windward group of the Lower Antilles.”
    “We were down that way a few months ago,” Alec said. “Not by choice. We ran into Daisy.”
    “The hurricane. Yeah, I know. I read about your plane having to ditch. It’s a wonder …”
    “I know,” Alec said, cutting him off. “It is. But we’re here.” He didn’t want to discuss that episode in his life.
    “You wouldn’t have seen my island,” Steve said. “It’s not much.”
    “Is that why you want to buy it?”
    “That’s why I
can
buy it,” Steve said. “It’s a British possession and uninhabited. Her Majesty’s government will sell it for sixty-five thousand dollars.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “We checked and that’s what we learned.”
    “We?”
Alec repeated.
“Your parents?”
    “No, my friend Pitch. He’s old. I mean older than us. Maybe he’s like your friend Henry, except different.”
    “How different?”
    “He’s no trainer or even a horseman. He’s an amateur archaeologist and historian.”
    “Oh,” Alec said.
    “That’s why he’s interested in the island,” Steve explained further.
    “Is he there now with your horse?”
    “He’s with my horse, but not there.”
    Alec started to say “Oh” again but changed his mind and kept still. It was better if he didn’t give Steve the impression that he understood when he didn’t. One step at a time.
    “Then your horse and Pitch are here? I mean in Miami?”
    “No, they’re in Nassau over in the Bahamas.”
    “Oh”
slipped out before Alec could check it. He went on, “They’re as good as here, then. Just a few hours away.”
    “I can bring Flame to Hialeah, if you’ll help me.”
    “How?” Alec heard himself ask quite seriously.
    “Speak to the racing secretary. Try to get me stall space. It would take just one big race for me to win all the money I need.”
    The Black started around them in another tight circle. Alec, who felt he couldn’t be made any dizzier than he was, stayed with him this time instead of giving him enough shank to go around alone. This Steve Duncan was fantastic in his requests. The Black kept circling.
    “That’s a big order,” Alec said finally. “I wouldn’t have a chance of doing what you ask. The secretary would never go for my story of a phantom horse that was so fast he could … well, go as fast as you say yours can go.”
    Steve’s black eyes flashed fire again. “He’s no phantom horse,” he said.
    “I’m sure he isn’t,” Alec said quietly. “Not to you, but he would be