The Black Stallion Read Online Free PDF Page B

followed Alec as he climbed to the top. The boy’s eyes swept the dark, rolling sea. White-crested swells rushed in and rolled up the beach. The stallion, too, seemed to be watching—his eyes staring into the night, his ears pricking forward. An hour passed, then they turned and made their way back to camp.
    A wind started blowing from out of the west. Alec stoked the fire for the night, then crawled wearily into his shelter. He was tired, for he had spent most of the day gathering carragheen. He stretched out and was soon asleep.
    He didn’t know how long he had been sleeping, but suddenly the Black’s shrill scream awakened him. Sleepily he opened his eyes; the air had grown hot. Then he heard a crackling noise above; his head jerked upward. The top of the shelter was on fire! Flames were creeping down the sides. Alec leaped to his feet and rushed outside.
    A gale was sweeping the island and instantly he realized what had happened. Sparks from his campfire had been blown upon the top of the shelter and hadeasily set fire to the dry wood. He grabbed the turtle shell and ran to the spring. Filling it, he ran back and threw the water on the flames.
    The Black pranced nervously beside the spring, his nostrils quivering, while Alec rushed back and forth with his little turtle shell full of water, trying to keep the fire from spreading. But it had a good start and soon it had enveloped the whole shelter. Smoke filled the air. The boy and the horse were forced to move farther and farther back.
    Soon the two nearby trees caught. Alec knew that the fire could not spread much farther—the island was too barren of any real fuel. But right now the flames were devouring everything in sight. They roared and reached high into the air. There was nothing that Alec could do. The one thing he really needed—his shelter—was gone. And there was no more wood.
    The fire burned a long time before it started to die down. Then the wind, too, began to diminish. Alec sat beside the spring, watching the flames, until the first streaks of dawn appeared in the sky. He blinked his smoke-filled eyes, gritted his teeth—he wasn’t licked yet! He’d find some way to make a shelter, and if that wasn’t possible, then he’d sleep outside like the Black.
    Determinedly he set out for the beach. Perhaps some wood had been swept ashore during the night. The Black trotted ahead of him. Then Alec saw him snort and rear as he reached the top of the hill, and plunge back down again. Alec hurried forward. From the crest of the hill, he looked down. Below him was a ship anchored four hundred yards off the island!
    He heard voices. He saw a rowboat being drawnup on the beach by five men. Incredulous, unable to shout, he rushed down the hill.
    “You were right, Pat, there
is
someone on this island!” he heard one of the men shout to the other.
    And the other replied in a thick Irish brogue, “Sure, and I knew I saw a fire reaching into the heavens!”

R ESCUE
5
    Alec’s eyes blurred; he couldn’t see. He stumbled and fell and then clambered to his feet. Again he rushed forward. Then they had their arms around him.
    “For the love of St. Patrick,” the man called Pat groaned, “he’s just a boy!”
    Words jumbled together and stuck in Alec’s throat as he looked into the five pairs of eyes staring at him. Then he found his voice. “We’re saved!” he yelled. “We’re saved, Black, we’re saved!”
    The sailors looked at him—he was a strange sight! His red hair was long and disheveled, his face and body so brown that they would have taken him for a native had it not been for the torn remnants of his clothing, which hung loosely on him.
    One of the men stepped forward. From his uniform he was obviously the captain of the ship. “Everything is going to be all right, son,” he said as he placed an arm around Alec and steadied him.
    Slowly Alec gained control of himself. “I’m okay now, sir,” he said.
    The sailors gathered around him.