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"Well, I came for them, too" Holly wipes the ent for them How many times have you won?"

"Four"

"Four! You’re the ional treasure, perhaps Does Thisby have home rule? Why don’t you race on the et your news slowly, you know"

George Holly didn’t know it, but I had been to the mainland once with my father, for one of the races there It was vests and flat caps and bowlers and canes, horses in snaffle bits and jockeys in silks and a track contained by a white rail, and wives who looked like dolls The benevolent hills stretched gently on either side of the stands The sun had shone, the bets had been cast, the favorite won by two lengths We caone back

"I’m no jockey," I say Corr starts to come in toward us, and I push him back out to the ith a flick of h to touch hith of red leather fixed to the end, and it snaps to remind him of his place

"Me neither," Holly announces broadly, putting his hands in his pockets like a boy He rotates on his heel as I turn, watching Corr circle around us "Just a horse lover"

Now that he’s said his name, I know exactly who he is I’ve not ent, who co or three Holly’s the A farm known for show juh to come all the way to Thisby for a chance to improve his stock "Horse lover" is a stark understatement, albeit one thathi how difficult it will be to hand hiet down to the beaches

"Do you think Benjamin Malvern would part with this beast?" Holly asks He’s watching Corr’s tireless stride and i it, I think, on his home soil

My breath’s uncertain For the first tih it’s caused hts before "Malvern won’t sell his water horses to anyone"

Also, it’s illegal to transport the capaill uisce fro that would stop someone like Holly If he were a horse, I think I’d have to trot hie off

"Perhaps he hasn’t been offered the right price"

My fingers tighten on the lunge line enough that Corr feels the tension and flicks an ear toward ood offers"

At least one very good offer Everything I had saved over the years, everything fros I could buy ten of Malvern’s yearlings, ten of any of his other horses Just not the one I want

"I expect you would be the one to know," Holly says "So for" He doesn’t sound upset; arefused them that neither scenario surprises him "I sure do like the look of hihted by it all that it’s hard to fault hi are you here?"

"I’m on the ferry the day after the race, hatever Benjamin Malvern has convinced me I can’t live without Want to join me? I could use a boy like you Not a jockey, but a whatever you call yourself"

I allow him a thin smile that reveals the iestures his chin toward Corr "Can I hold him for a moment? Will he let e line and my stick Holly takes theive hiht hand, an extension of his ared hundreds of horses

Still, Corr immediately tests him He tosses his head up and moves in, and Holly has to flick the stick at once Corr keeps pushing inward

"Snap," I say I’m ready to take him back if I ain, this tih to audibly snap the leather, and Corr twists his head,back out to the wall Holly’s set him like this?"

"Six years"