He had little use for such practical people, and he did not want to be influenced or changed by them and others of their kind. He ceased listening to the applause and concentrated only on his mare and his own thoughts. He stroked her neck beneath the gray mane.
This was to be his last circus performance in Europe, for he had agreed to a contract with Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey in the United States. It meant a well-deserved vacation for him and his mare; they would not have to work again until he joined the Ringling Circus at its training quarters in Florida.
He would leave this land of coldness behind to pursue something he’d wanted to do all his life. He would visit Haiti on his way to the United States and find out for himself what the land of his ancestors was truly like. He had heard many strange things about Haiti and a legend that was filled with impossible events—one he’d been told by his father, when a child, passed on from generation to generation as part of their heritage. He had an overpowering urge to learn more about the legend, and because he believed in signs and omens, the contract with Ringling Bros. coming at this time pointed the way.
The applause continued and he saw some children standing up and hanging over a balcony rail, waving their programs at him. He waved back, knowing they had seen The Ghost as he had planned they should see her. The circus was for children and the imagination of children.
The lights dimmed except for the yellow spotlight as he backed his beloved mare out of the ring. Little did she know what he had in store for her across the ocean. He wanted her to have a foal and he had found the stallion that was right for her in every way. He had seen him on Swedish television only that week, a horse called the Black, the American champion, winning a great race in Florida. That he should find such a stallion now, after so many years of searching, was still another sign that pointed the way for him. He was determined that nothing would keep him from acquiring the Black for his mare. He was a man who took what he wanted. He was as remorseless as he was powerful.
The applause continued long after he stepped behind the black velvet curtain, but he did not return to acknowledge it.
THE BLACK STALLION
2
The stallion tossed his head, sniffing the spring air with dilated nostrils. He was a coal-black silhouette against the golden light of early morning. Within his great body was a fierce, insistent, almost intolerable longing for a mate. He became more excited than ever when the wind brought the sharp odor of mares to him from a distant pasture.
He gave a sudden shrill neigh which was clearly meant for the mares he could not see but knew were there. He gathered himself, rocked back on his hindquarters, and plunged forward. The morning echoed to the wild pounding of his hoofs as he raced down the field, his black mane and long, thick tail gleaming brilliantly in the sun.
He kept close to the arrow-straight fence which separated him from other paddocks and fields like his own, all green with lush grass. When he came to the end he stretched his head high, peering over the top board.
Now he could see the mares and he shrilled again the high, clear note of the stallion—challenging and passionate and urgent with life. His calls shattered the morning stillness and some of the mares raised their heads and turned his way. A few began to gallop in wide circles but the majority continued grazing as if they had not heard his love call. He repeated his clear, happy neigh of desire, hoping to attract the running mares—but soon they, too, turned away from him and continued grazing.
In ever-mounting fury and frustration he raced back and forth along the high fence, displaying all his speed and strength and fire. When he stopped it was only to paw the ground and send clods of earth flying. His neigh changed with his stomping; it became more metallic and threatening, more demanding than loving.
The mares raised their heads again and listened. They saw the stallion in all his maturity and masterfulness. They listened to his calls, which rang so defiantly across the field. Then, as one, they took flight, streaming away from him in a tangle of bodies and plunging hoofs.
He watched them go, his eyes sparkling with a savage fire. He continued snorting and the veins beneath his silken coat swelled. He rushed madly in a wild gallop that sent the earth flying from his hoofs.
Later, when his anger was spent, he sought the shade of a towering oak tree. There he carefully lowered his body to the ground. He rolled over, his legs hanging limply in the air, and rubbed his back and hindquarters against the cool turf.
Alec Ramsay had watched his horse from a perch on the top board of the fence. “Is that the way to behave?” he called to the Black. “You should know better.”
The stallion continued rolling, paying no attention to him. It didn’t matter; Alec had learned long ago to speak to the Black whether or not the stallion listened.
Alec smelled the pungent odor of steaming cane juice in the air and looked beyond the green carpet of fenced pastures to the tall chimneys of a distant sugar mill. Long columns of gray smoke floated and wavered above the stacks, scenting the land with an almost overpowering sweetness. Sugarfoot Ranch was an appropriate name for this place, he decided.
After having spent the previous two months in the teeming coastal city of Miami, Alec had not expected south-central Florida to be as enjoyable as it was. Most winter visitors, like himself, were lured to the coastal areas and never saw the vast, sparsely populated region on the edge of the Everglades.
He turned his face to the tropical sun, enjoying it and the peaceful quiet. His hard body beneath T-shirt and jeans was as brown as his face. He was thoroughly happy with his well-earned vacation after the grueling races at Hialeah Park in Miami. There was no one around to tell him what to do. The Black was his sole responsibility. It was almost as it had been in the beginning, so long ago.
He watched a great heron in long-legged flight against the blue sky and listened to its raucous cry. He followed it as it flew low over a grove of tall coconut palms, the fronds moving languidly in the soft breeze.
His gaze returned to his horse and he found the Black still lying on his back, his hind legs drawn up and forelegs spread outward. Alec smiled; it was a most unusual position for a horse who led such an active life. Perhaps the Black, too, was succumbing to the languor of this land.
Alec shifted his body in order to get into a more comfortable position on the fence. He wondered if this might not be an ideal place to raise horses. Henry Dailey had suggested as much before leaving to oversee the training of several two-year-olds in New York. Henry, his old friend and trainer, had suggested they might even purchase a small farm in this area as an annex to Hopeful Farm up north. They would move their young stock here and, perhaps, some of the older horses that needed a long rest in the sun.
It was not a new idea, Alec had reminded Henry, for the Ocala area in upper-central Florida had become very popular with horse breeders as a year-round operation.
“Too popular,” Henry had answered. “Land is more costly there, and we don’t need to be with the others. This area is worth considering. Think about it while I’m gone.”
There were advantages and disadvantages to it, Alec thought. The area was more suitable for the growing of sugar cane and vegetables than pasture grass. It was reclaimed swampland, the soil a black carpet of peat muck. Beneath it, of course, was the solid bedrock of coral limestone that shaped and held the Florida peninsula.
The rich farmland had been reclaimed by a flood control basin which the United States Army Engineers had constructed to contain the waters of Lake Okeechobee to the north. They had diverted the waters which normally had flowed over this area and drifted south to nourish the Everglades. It had meant thousands of square miles of new agricultural land and communities. But it also meant, Alec reflected bitterly, the ultimate death of the great swamp. More and more canals were being built, not only by the Army engineers but by private developers promising “residential neighborhoods where wild animals once lived.”
Alec turned and faced south, where he could see
an endless tawny blaze of light that seemed to merge and mingle with the rays of the rising sun. He was at the doorstep of the wild Everglades, and after what he had read and heard of the immensity of the swamp, he wondered if bulldozers and draglines would ever be able to transform it completely into the realtors’ promised Garden of Eden. He stared in that direction a long time.
Finally, he roused himself, shaking his head and wondering why on this morning he should be drawn to the swamp, as if by a magnet, when he never had thought much about it before.
Perhaps, he decided, the peace, the languor, or whatever one wished to call it was changing his metabolism as it seemed to be doing to the Black this very moment.
He jumped down from the fence, determined to disturb the quiet of the morning. He rode the Black daily, and today must be no exception. The spring racing season would open soon in New York and they were scheduled to be there. Henry had given them a few weeks to freshen up from their hard winter campaign but no more than that.
He walked over to his horse, wondering if he’d be able to acquire another paddock for him. It was the first time he’d seen mares turned out in the adjacent field, and he did not want the Black distracted. It was difficult enough in the spring of the year without having a band of broodmares in the next field! He knew that mares generally coped with the breeding season better than stallions; they possessed patience, whereas stallions, once started on a breeding program, felt only the persistent drive to mate.
He was glad Henry had not been around to see the mares in the adjacent pasture. He’d have raised the devil. It was an oversight, Alec knew, and he’d be able to straighten it out with Joe Early, the ranch manager, later in the day.
The Black had rolled over on his side and was the picture of a horse completely at ease. His eyes were open, and when he saw Alec coming toward him with the lead shank, he scrambled to his feet. He did not run away but stood still—as quiet as the morning—proud and long-limbed, waiting.
Alec snapped the shank on the halter ring. He never got tired of looking at his horse. He would always stand in awe of the Black, no matter how long he had him.
Few ever saw the true greatness in the Black without standing close to him. No picture could convey it. Nor could it be seen from fence rail or grandstand, as electric as his presence and speed might be. One had to stand beside him to appreciate the arrogance and nobility that were stamped on his small fine head. One had to rub him with soft cloths and brushes to see how well every part of his seventeen-hand body fitted together to make him the greatest runner of all time.
Alec watched the stallion’s ears, for his horse talked with his ears. Now they flicked south in the direction of the Everglades.
Alec answered with his hands, running them down the arched neck. Then he said aloud, “You too? Okay, we’ll go that way this morning if only for a change of scenery.”
His fingers rubbed the ridge of the stallion’s neck. “We’re on vacation, you and I,” he said. “We can do pretty much as we please with Henry gone.”
There was a long sun-filled day ahead of them. Early up and early to bed, that alone was the rule on vacation and an easy one to keep.
“You’re a good fellow,” Alec said softly. The Black turned his head toward him, as if listening attentively. Alec knew that his horse understood the warmth of his words if not the precise meaning, and that was all that mattered. He felt the stallion’s breath against his face. There was a gentleness, too, about his horse which few people ever saw. The large eyes gazed calmly and trustfully into his own.
“We’d probably get pretty lazy staying here all the time,” he said. “You and I need a change of seasons. I don’t think this place would be good for us at all.”
The Black snorted.
“Not that we can’t have fun here,” Alec continued, rubbing the soft muzzle. “And there’s no reason why we can’t see some of the swamp today. No reason at all.”
He paused before mounting, aware of an odd feeling coming over him. It was vague but there, an awareness that this morning somehow was not like other mornings. He shrugged his shoulders. Today was like any other day, he told himself, except that he would ride south for a change and do some exploring.
He passed a hand along the stallion’s backbone, waiting for the headiness, almost a feeling of momentary intoxication, to leave him. He decided that the feeling might be one of pure joy at having his horse to himself for a change.
It had taken three days of Henry’s absence for him to realize how glad he was to be free of the trainer’s yoke. He longed for complete abandon and freedom of movement, if only for a short while. Ahead of him was a long summer of racing, unremitting in its toil and preparation. And, when he wasn’t racing, there was work to be done at Hopeful Farm. Good help was hard to get and even more difficult to keep. Every free day would be used to help repair fences and barns, to harrow paddocks, to care for the new foals and to cut, bale and store hay for the winter. One never caught up. Time taken out—even for racing—was never regained.
Alec thought longingly of the days when his every move did not have to be obedient and useful, when he could be off on the Black, to go where he liked and as he pleased.
“Why not ride bareback this morning?” he asked himself. “Why not leave the saddle and bridle behind? Why not ride him the way I used to?”
Alec reached up and grasped the stallion’s mane with both hands. He spoke to the Black as he backed up beside the horse’s head. Then he took two short, springy steps forward and swung his legs up while pulling on the mane at the same time. His body rolled and twisted in the air, reaching for seventeen hands of horse!
He landed astride the Black, his hands and legs communicating immediately to his horse in a language of their own. He could control the Black’s direction and pace by the pressure of a knee or calf, by the touch of a heel on his flank or a hand on his neck. Sometimes all that was necessary was a sound from his lips.
There would be no bridle or saddle today—no restrictions upon him or his horse. This was going to be a different kind of a day!
He squeezed his horse into a canter and cued him into a left lead. He made a large circle, hastening and smoothing the stallion’s strides until he had him almost in a full gallop.
“Too fast, too cocky,” he warned himself, slowing down the Black as they approached the closed gate of the paddock.
When they were outside, Alec turned the Black south and did not check his horse’s speed. He was happier than he’d been in a long time. He was not merely at home on the Black; he belonged entirely to him. It was as if he had no other existence. There was no room for anything else.
The stallion’s strides came swift and easy, between a gallop and a run, what racetrack people call a “breeze.” Alec settled down to enjoy the ride. In a short while he’d slow down the Black, but for the moment he let the wind water his eyes. He listened to the beat of the Black’s hoofs over the dirt road. The secret of his horse’s success lay not only in his great strength and speed but also in his perfect rhythm and unwasted motion.
Alec moved closer to the stallion’s neck and adjusted himself to the rhythm of the stallion’s strides. He felt a sudden urge to let him go into a headlong run, for the sound of the Black’s running hoofs had always broken the world apart for him! The taste of the wind, when the Black was in full flight, brought him greater joy than anything else in the world!
Alec spoke softly, a sound rather than a word, and the Black broke swiftly into full run. The triple, throbbing beat of his racing hoofs over the dirt road came faster and louder. He thrust out his small head as if ready to extend himself to the fullest; his haunches glittered in the early morning sun like black satin.
Alec’s eyes were as bright as his mount’s. The Black was reveling in his freedom from bit and saddle! Still, Alec knew he must keep him under control. He pushed away the stallion’s mane that streamed back at him, clearing his blurred eyes so he could see objects along the road. Instinctively he be
gan estimating furlongs and began counting off the seconds, down to fifths of seconds, keeping time in his mind. Every jockey needed to know the pace of his mount, whether running at full speed or not, and Alec never stopped practicing because he knew it was not a question of talent but of hard work. Also, he didn’t want the Black to run himself into the ground.
After a mile, he slowed the Black to a walk. He let go of the mane and wiped the sweat from his face. They were close enough to the Everglades for him to be able to smell the rank odor that blew from the swamp.
Suddenly the air took on a warning bite. Alec had the same feeling he’d had earlier, an awareness that this morning was not like other mornings. But now another element had been added. He stopped the Black in his tracks. He didn’t know if the danger he felt was real or something he sensed in the air around him. But he knew it was there, somewhere in the Everglades.
THE HAMMOCKS
3
Alec’s gaze swept over the saw-grass empire, colored like ripe wheat nearby but shading to emerald green in the distance. It was a wild bright plain, neither land nor water, with no visible limits. It was a land mostly untouched by human hands. It was motionless—and yet Alec sensed in it a throbbing heartbeat of its own.
He shrugged off the feeling of apprehension that had come to him. There was no reason to fear this watery wilderness that was being drained by the canals. He realized that the huge swamp was resisting, fighting for its life. This was evident in the sun-bitten vastness spreading before him as if in challenge to all those who sought to destroy it.
The dirt road went to a remote and isolated Seminole Indian village a couple of miles away. The people there were hunters, he had been told, and lived on one of the high islands in the swamp known as hammocks.