The Horse Tamer (14 page)

“It turned out that way, too,” Henry continued thoughtfully. “Finn even sold a bike to Lillian Russell—that was the showgirl my brother thought was so pretty, the one at the Casino Theater on Broadway. It was a gold-plated bike with mother-of-pearl handlebars on which her monogram was engraved in diamonds and
emeralds. Even the hubs and spokes were set with jewels that used to sparkle in the sun when she rode by.”

“You mean you saw her?”

“I sure did,” Henry replied dreamily.

“But Finn couldn’t have sold many of that kind of bike,” Alec said.

“No, but he made enough in the business to start sellin’ electric carriages that went as fast as eleven miles an hour! They sure scared a lot of horses and as a result my brother was busier than ever.”

“Was that the last you heard of Finn?”

“Oh, no, I saw him after that. A few years later when I returned to New York alone I saw him drivin’ one of the craziest things I’d ever seen in my life up to that time. It was called a devil wagon.”

“What did it do?”

Henry pulled on a piece of straw. “It was one of the first
gasoline
carriages, Alec, and Finn was selling ’em. He advertised that they were ‘noiseless, odorless, and perfectly safe and controllable, as most horses aren’t!” He even predicted they’d soon be in general use. Finn was the laughingstock of New York because of his wild claims, so when he passed me I laughed at him too. I even yelled with the others, ‘Get
a horse!’
”

The Black Stallion snorted and they turned to him, smiling.

Alec said, “I guess what the Black means is that Finn had the last laugh.”

“Maybe so,” Henry answered. “But I don’t think even Finn dreamed we’d be flying our horse across the Atlantic Ocean.” He made for the door. “C’mon, let’s see if they’re ready to go yet.”

Walter Farley’s love for horses began when he was a small boy living in Syracuse, New York, and continued as he grew up in New York City, where his family moved. Unlike most city children, he was able to fulfill this love through an uncle who was a professional horseman. Young Walter spent much of his time with his uncle, learning about the different kinds of horse training and the people associated with them.

Walter Farley began to write his first book,
The Black Stallion
, while he was a student at Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School and Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. He eventually finished it, and it was published in 1941 while he was still an undergraduate at Columbia University.

The appearance of
The Black Stallion
brought such an enthusiastic response from young readers that Mr. Farley went on to create more stories about the Black, and about other horses as well. In his life he wrote a total of thirty-four books, including
Man o’ War
, the story of America’s
greatest thoroughbred, and two photographic storybooks based on the two Black Stallion movies. His books have been enormously popular in the United States and have been published in twenty-one foreign countries.

Mr. Farley and his wife, Rosemary, had four children, whom they raised on a farm in Pennsylvania and at a beach house in Florida. Horses, dogs, and cats were always a part of the household.

In 1989 Mr. Farley was honored by his hometown library in Venice, Florida, which established the Walter Farley Literary Landmark in its children’s wing. Mr. Farley died in October 1989, shortly before the publication of
The Young Black Stallion
, the twenty-first book in the Black Stallion series. Mr. Farley co-authored
The Young Black Stallion
with his son, Steven.