The Island Stallion Races

  The men waited patiently, kindly, while he tried again to speak. They came no closer … but even if they had, he could not have left.

  They were helping him, and finally his words came in a whisper. “How did you get here?”

  Both smiled, and it was Jay who answered. “Why, in our ship, of course. You’ve seen it, Steve. You’ve been watching us right along.”

  “We’re just over there,” Flick added, nodding his cropped gray head to one side.

  Steve turned his head toward the wall of the chamber, and Flick chuckled and said, “Of course I mean outside, Steve.”

  “There you go taking too much for granted again,” Jay said disapprovingly.

  Flick’s small mustache trembled in his irritation. “I wish you’d stop saying that, Jay. It’s all I’ve heard from you during this trip. You know as well as I do that there’s only so much we can tell Steve.”

  “Oh, nonsense,” Jay retorted. “You’re always worrying about nothing. No wonder you’re gray long before your time. And wearing that ridiculous crew-cut doesn’t fool anyone, either.” He turned quickly to Steve, not wanting to give Flick an opportunity to speak just then. “Steve,” he explained, “we’re on the water out there. We arrived late yesterday afternoon, and of course we knew that you were watching us. We realize how concerned you’ve been. Please don’t be any longer.”

  Flick said, “Actually, we’ve been just as concerned about you.”

  Jay nodded his blue-black head in agreement. “That’s one of the reasons for this visit. I don’t believe we’ve ever been seen before. It’s quite …”

  “Now, now, Jay,” Flick interrupted nervously. “You know what Julian said.”

  “Worrying, always worrying, you and Julian. Just leave it to me to know how much to explain.”

  “I’ve tried that before and it hasn’t worked out very well,” Flick answered gravely. He turned to Steve and smiled. “You mustn’t mind our bickering. This has been going on a long time.”

  “Too long,” Jay said. “The next trip will be different. I’ll team up with Victor.”

  “They won’t have it,” Flick answered. “You and Victor are too much alike.” He shrugged his thin shoulders, adding, “But it would be perfectly all right with me. In fact it would be a pleasure not to have to worry about you at all.”

  Steve realized vaguely that none of this could be real. He couldn’t be thousands of feet deep within the walls of Azul Island, listening to these men argue as they might have done in any living room! It couldn’t be happening, and yet it was.

  Finally Jay turned to him again. “I suppose old Flick is right in a way, Steve. Maybe you’d better just accept our being here. It’ll be easier on you. Of course you know about our ship, having seen it. Unfortunately, it takes us a little while to cool down after a long voyage … friction, you know. But we never dreamed anyone would be at this remote spot to see us come in.”

  They were talking about the golden mass of light, only it was more than light. It was their ship and it was still there, above that small grayish-white patch, without being visible!

  Sudden alarm passed through Steve like an electric shock, shattering the numbness that had brought immobility to his legs. He moved them now, seeking to turn and run.

  But their hands caught him quickly, keeping him still, and he knew he could not get away, that all hope of escape was lost.

  Flick said casually, “So little has missed Steve’s attention. Really, it’s most remarkable. He’s even seen the cruisers.”

  “So he has,” Jay returned. “But I don’t think it matters. Steve has as much to conceal as we do. He’s a very unusual person.”

  As Steve listened, there flashed through his mind all he had read about the frightening, secret weapons of war that were being developed and tested by countries throughout the world. Was this ship one of them? Were those needle-shaped objects he’d seen even now bent on the destruction of distant cities? This was very real and deadly!

  “Look at us, Steve,” Jay said.

  Only then did Steve realize that Jay and Flick had been silent for many minutes. He made a great effort to focus his eyes upon them, to see them as they actually were. He had to know the answers to his questions.

  They were looking at him, but neither spoke. Their features had become so blurred it was difficult for Steve to make them out. He tried to blink to clear his vision, but found he could not move his eyelids. The two faces grew more and more indistinct until they were blotted out completely. Only the shimmering light of their eyes remained and that shone brighter and brighter, seemingly enveloping him in an intense heat.

  Steve knew that he could not fight this growing inner warmth, that all he could do was to welcome it. Stronger and stronger it became, flooding his body and very being till there was no room left for fear or suspicion. He felt only a deep sense of comfort and confidence and trust.

  How long it was before he could see their faces again, he could not have told. But suddenly he was asking himself how anyone could look at these two men and think anything but good of them. Flick was smiling, pleased and happy that Steve trusted them completely, that he now felt confident no one, no country, had anything to fear from them. Jay, too, was smiling, even chuckling.

  “Now, Steve,” Flick said softly, “I was wondering when you and Pitch first found this place.”

  “Pitch! Do you know Pitch?” Steve asked aloud, surprised at their mentioning his friend’s name, surprised even more that his words came so easily.

  “Oh, no,” Flick answered hastily, “… just a little of him.” He glanced at Jay with fleeting concern.

  “Who told you about him?” Steve asked.

  “Well … well, you did, Steve.” Flick turned to Jay helplessly.

  “There you go getting yourself into a jam,” Jay said, “and wanting me to get you out of it. I told you before that if you start something with Steve you must finish it. You just can’t let it hang in the air. He won’t have it.”

  “He’s only a boy,” Flick answered defiantly.

  “Of course, and that’s exactly what I mean, Flick. We’re not dealing with a closed, inflexible, adult mind here. Young people are different, Flick, and we might as well accept that right now. We must get used to having Steve ask questions that I believe no one but a young person would ask. And really, Flick, it’s going to make our visit much more fun.”

  “But, Jay …” Flick began.

  Jay ignored him and turned to Steve. “Getting back to your question about our knowing Pitch, Steve. As Flick started to say, you told us about him. What I mean is that you’ve been thinking about him right along and we’re able to tune our minds to yours without much trouble. It’s something on the order of what you’d call telepathic power, I believe. But it’s simply an exchange of thought messages, which we’ve taken great pride in doing for a long, long while.” He chuckled, then added, “However we don’t overdo it, Steve, for fear we’ll lose the use of our voices. Now let’s talk about Flame. While we were watching you ride him this morning we …”

  “Y—you mean you know about Flame too? You were in the valley this morning?”

  “Yes to both questions, Steve,” Jay replied. “As Flick mentioned a few minutes ago, we were concerned about your having seen us. Naturally, we thought it best to check up on you.” He straightened his black string tie and smiled, hoping to relieve Steve’s anxiety. “Of course everything is all right, perfectly all right now. It’s just that we didn’t know what to expect.”

  Flick nodded his cropped head in full agreement, and Jay went on, “But let’s talk about the horses, Steve. Flame is a very beautiful animal and you sit him well.”

  “Can’t you get your mind off horses, Jay?” Flick asked in a bored tone. “That’s all I’ve heard from you since we arrived.”

  “I’m sorry but that’s the way I feel about the subject,” Jay answered brusquely. “My interest in horses is nothing new, as you very well know.”

  “I k
now. I know,” Flick said resignedly. “You certainly have a well-balanced mind, ninety percent horse, I’d say. I should have known better than …” He stopped abruptly, and raised the lantern to Jay’s face. Then he went on, “It’s just occurred to me, Jay, that you might have known there were horses on this island when you picked our landing site. After all you were at the controls at the time.”

  “Oh, no, Flick,” Jay said, hurt. “This is just as much of a surprise to me as it is to you.”

  “How did you get in here?” Steve interrupted the argument.

  Jay smiled. “Oh, we have means of leaving the ship,” he replied casually. “You’ve seen us.”

  Steve thought of the cruisers they’d mentioned. Even now one of those slender objects must be somewhere within the barrier walls of Azul Island … probably in the smaller valley near the sea entrance.

  Flick came around Jay to join in the discussion. “And then of course we followed you into the tunnels, when you went to look at our ship again. We stopped to rest when we came to this chamber, knowing you’d return presently.”

  “That was your idea,” Jay said bitterly. “I wanted to go ahead and surprise Steve.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” Steve spoke up.

  Flick said, “We’d better be getting back now, Jay. I’m sure it must be very late.”

  “Julian is there. He’ll take care of things.”

  “But it’s our job,” Flick insisted. “The others won’t like it.”

  “We’re late now, so they’re angry already,” Jay answered. “A few minutes more won’t change things.” He turned to Steve. “I’d like a cup of tea, Steve. You do have some, don’t you?”

  Steve nodded and obediently followed them out of the chamber. He marveled that they knew their way through the tunnels but he was not surprised. One’s mind could take in only so much and his had had its fill. Later he’d find out all he needed to know. From what country had they come? What manner of people were they to have built an airship that could not be seen while anchored and were so far advanced in the power of telepathy that they knew about Pitch just from his having thought of him?

  He continued walking close behind Flick, who led the way, the light bobbing before him. He felt no fear or suspicion of them, only the confidence and trust that had come to him in the chamber. This, too, had been their doing. Otherwise wouldn’t he have been afraid for himself and the horses?

  When they emerged from the tunnels and stood beside the waterfall, Blue Valley was in deep shadow. The air was very cool and pleasant, much as it had been that morning.

  Jay glanced at him and said, “Lovely, isn’t it? And you’d like it to remain this way?”

  Steve nodded.

  Jay winked and said, “Sometimes weather can be a state of mind, Steve … like a lot of other things.”

  Flick gave Jay a stern look of reprimand as they started down the trail.

  It took only a few minutes to get the canister of tea Pitch had stored away and to have the water boiling. Jay balanced his cup of tea on the fine crease of his blue pants. “Let’s talk about Flame, Steve,” he said.

  “Not now,” Flick interrupted. “Make it another time. Drink your tea and let’s go.”

  “You’ll be coming back then?” Steve asked.

  “Of course, Steve,” and Jay chuckled. “I wouldn’t miss this for anything.” He looked at the table behind Steve. “May I have one of those biscuits?” he asked.

  Steve passed the can to him. Jay had taken only a bite when Flick rose from his chair, his face red with anger.

  “You’re being most difficult,” he told Jay. “You know you’ll get plenty to eat when we get back. I’ve taken enough of your lack of consideration.” He pulled Jay from his chair and forcefully led him down the steep trail.

  Steve watched them go. After they had reached the valley floor they walked across to the field of wild cane. Flame was grazing in the distance, and Steve wondered if he should warn his departing visitors that the red stallion would not tolerate strangers in his kingdom. Almost at once he decided it was not necessary to warn them … yet he wondered why he felt so certain of this.

  It was becoming quite dark, so he could barely see the two men. They were directly across the valley from Flame, and yet the stallion never stopped his grazing. Like everything else that had happened, Flame’s lack of vigilance was unbelievable. Even though Flame might not be able to see the two strangers in the darkness, he should have been able to sense their presence.

  Steve felt the cool night air on his face. Moments passed, and then the two men were gone. Steve stayed where he was, his gaze shifting to the sky above the dome of Azul Island, watching for a thin streak of silver. He waited a long while without seeing anything.

  Finally he looked down at the plate that held Jay’s half-eaten biscuit. If it were not for this bit of evidence, he would have found it hard to believe the two men had actually been there.

  Suddenly he heard a noisy outburst from the birds. They were above him as they had been early that morning, perched on the rock beside the waterfall. The large blue bird was closer, and as usual was more bold and boisterous. Apparently he had seen the biscuit and wanted it, for he flew down and came to rest a short distance away.

  Steve tossed the biscuit outside on the ledge. The bird dove quickly, snapping it up with one hard thrust of his bill.

  As Steve watched him fly off with the biscuit, he regretted having given away his only tangible evidence of the last weird hour. It was all too fantastic to believe! He looked up at the night sky and saw nothing but the two birds in flight. A chill swept over him. It was all a dream, wasn’t it? Nothing had actually happened. There were no such persons as Jay and Flick.

  “… ALWAYS WORRYING ABOUT NOTHING”

  5

  Steve cooked a large meal. He opened tins of beef and peas and carrots and onions. He used garlic and herbs, trying to remember all that Pitch had told him about preparing a savory stew. Actually he was not hungry, although he knew that once the food was before him he would eat. To keep busy was his main objective. He did not want to think about his strange visitors any longer.

  When he finally sat down to eat, he found the stew not at all to his liking and not at all like Pitch’s. Too much garlic. Too much thyme. But he scarcely paused between mouthfuls. It was as though he were willing to do anything, anything at all, to keep from thinking. The next stew would be better, he told himself. He’d been experimenting. He’d learned a lot. The next stew would be better. He’d go easy on the garlic, easy on the thyme.

  Later he heated water and washed the dishes and pots. He dried them slowly, not certain what he could find to do next. He looked outside the cave. The evening sky was clear. There would be no cold rain tonight to chill him, no shivering. He heard the soft neighs of the mares calling their colts. Flame was quiet. There was not a sound from him, not even a hoofbeat.

  When Steve had finished doing the dishes, he walked onto the ledge, where he could see the dark silhouettes of the band. His eyes followed their movements but his thoughts wavered and then rushed headlong past every mental barrier he had erected to keep himself from thinking of Jay and Flick. Surely their being here meant the destruction of all he held so priceless!

  Why was it that he was so alarmed now, when he had willingly accepted them without fear only a short while ago? Was this the aftermath of all he had seen and experienced? Was this reality and the other a ghastly hoax, a scheme by which Jay and Flick had somehow warped his mind, making him see good where there was only evil?

  He thought of the airship that had swept through the heavens like a second sun and had come to rest, invisible, on the water. Surely this craft with its slender cruisers was the most advanced, most secret weapon in the world! Jay had said he didn’t believe it had been seen before.

  If the United States had developed it, he’d surely be taken to Washington. And if it belonged to another country, a potential foreign enemy, he might be … Steve walked res
tlessly about the ledge, the skin drawn taut and white about his high cheekbones.

  Was it any wonder that he was fearful, when all his life he had heard and read of the hatred among so many countries of the world? Was it not the reason for great standing armed forces and the fantastic advancement of secret weapons? Had he not seen with his own eyes the most powerful weapon of them all?

  He stopped walking and told himself to forget all he had read about prejudices and misunderstandings between governments. If he thought only of Jay and Flick as they were everything would be all right again. He could trust them completely without preconceived suspicion and hatred, without alarm or dread, regardless of what country they were from.

  For many minutes he stood still, trying to visualize their faces. How hard it was to form a mental picture of them! How long had they been gone? An hour, two hours at most.

  He could remember details, their suits and shirts and ties, Jay’s heavy hair that was more blue than black and Flick’s short cropped head and small black mustache. But he couldn’t put everything together and say to himself, “This is Jay … and that’s Flick.” No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t form a mental image of their features, and he wanted so much to look into their eyes again. He knew that if he were able to do this, the inner warmth and trust would come once more.

  He began walking again, making every effort to bring their faces to mind. But only an indistinct blur of faces resulted, not old, not young … real and yet not real. Finally, frustrated and angry with himself, he lay down upon his cot.

  Looking up at the night sky, he thought, “At least I can remember that there was nothing sinister or evil about them. I know they were good faces, kind faces. Besides, how could anyone have listened to Jay and Flick argue like a couple of small kids and still be afraid of them? Jay was so irresponsible while Flick acted like the worst kind of a worrier, constantly reminding his friend that they were being neglectful of their shipboard duties. And Flick had gotten so angry when Jay said, ‘No wonder you’re gray long before your time. And wearing that ridiculous crew-cut doesn’t fool anyone either!’ ”