The Island Stallion Races Read Free Page B

needle-like against the background of red sky. It traveled downward, just above the water, and that was the last he saw of it. He didn’t know if it had climbed back into the heavens or had sunk into the depths of the sea
.
    He was frightened but it wasn’t the same kind of fear as when he had thought the end of the world had come. Never again would he feel such total, all-engulfing fear as that had been. It was as if he had suffered the very worst that could happen to anyone and, having survived, was stronger for it. Yet he didn’t take his eyes from the glowing mass. He watched its brightness fadeuntil it was nothing at all … only a small, round patch of grayish-white floating on the sea.
    Steve held the binoculars up to his eyes until the world outside was as black as the tunnel … but even then he could tell where
it
was, for the patch was luminous. To anyone else it would have been nothing but the phosphorescence of a tropical sea. Steve knew otherwise. Something was out there! He turned and stumbled down the passageway.
    Arriving at Blue Valley, he went to Flame in the darkness. He sought a return to normalcy in the familiar nearness of his horse. But, like himself, Flame was alert and watchful. The stallion’s wild instincts told him that whatever had disrupted the quiet of his kingdom a short while ago hadn’t gone. He wouldn’t stray from his band that night. He wouldn’t sleep or relax his vigil. And Steve knew that it would be no different for himself. But, actually, what had they to watch for? Neither knew, and that’s what made the long hours to come so dangerous.
    For the time of year, the weather that night was very unusual. No moon or stars were to be seen through a heavy, rolling overcast, yet only a few hours before the sky had been clear except for the flimsy lacework of rippling white.
    Steve felt the chilling dampness, the nearness of the drenching rain to come. He moved closer to his horse, wondering if the heavens, like Flame and himself, were uneasy because of what had come to Blue Valley.
    “You’re being silly,” he told himself, aloud and angry. Flame jumped away, startled by his voice. Steve called him back.
    Over and over again he decided that what he had seen was only a meteor. He must accept that as a fact and nothing else. The meteor had sunk into the sea, leaving behind a bubbling trail that had created a great disturbance in the water
and in the air above it
. This had caused the golden mass, giving rise to his illusion of the three slender objects he had thought he’d seen but actually
hadn’t
. The round, grayish-white patch that had remained on the water afterward was only something that had been created by the chemical reaction of gases and water. Tomorrow it would be gone.
    Just then, and without further warning, the night rain came down heavily. Steve felt its rawness and decided that he and his horse were uneasy only because of the unseasonable cold. Suddenly he welcomed the rain, turning his face to the sky and letting it drench him thoroughly.
    After a few minutes he told himself that he was being very foolish standing in the rain when it could lead to a bad cold and perhaps complications that would make it necessary for him to leave Blue Valley. “Pitch would really be angry if he caught me doing this,” he thought.
    Leaving Flame, Steve climbed the trail to camp. He went inside the cave and lit the stove for the warmth it would provide. He’d have a lot to tell Pitch. Pitch would never believe that Blue Valley had gotten so cold he had had to get the stove going to keep warm!
    Steve removed all his clothes and rubbed himself hard with a large towel, then got dry clothes from the trunk and put them on. The rain was still coming down hard and cold currents of air swept through the cave.He moved closer to the stove. He thought of having some hot soup, not because he was hungry but for added warmth.
    Later he put the bowl of soup, half finished, to one side. He