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him.
    Alec was flung hard against the side of the plane as it lurched once more with the Black’s ponderous rolling. The engines shrilled a new sound, an ever-expanding, protesting roar in the night, and the floor slanted downward more steeply. Alec picked himself up. He realized that the pilots, blinded by fear themselves, were going down for any kind of a landing while they still had control of the plane. But not on a runway, not at an airport. They were still too far away. There was only a mountain wilderness beneath them!
    He staggered toward the Black and found himself looking into eyes that were dull and heavy. The stallion’sbreathing grew louder and louder until it could be heard even above the roar of the engines. Alec reached for him.
    Suddenly the stallion’s eyes came open with a snap, and once more they were wild in their brightness. He struggled to his feet, his nostrils swelling and widening. A spasm wracked his great body. He bolted, plunging the whole length of the compartment before losing his balance and falling again.
    The plane bounced in the sky, its engines rising and dwindling in horrible protest. Alec was hurled against the compartment door. For a moment he lay there, knowing there was nothing he could do. The door moved against his back, and then a voice shouted, “We’re crash-landing. Get some blankets around you!”
    Alec picked himself up, only to be thrown off his feet again as the plane slewed to the left, and then down, ever down. Now he crawled past the rolling body of the stallion. He pulled himself to the door and unlocked it. They were riding a comet toward a blackened earth. The only thing he could do now was to provide an escape for them, if they landed safely. He glanced out the window and a saw a knife-edged ridge below them. Were they to cut a swath through the trees or was there a clearing beyond?
    The Black was on his feet and moving about again. Alec pressed himself hard against the side of the plane to avoid the flaying, frenzied hoofs of his horse. The plane grazed the treetops. “Get her up!” he tried to shout. But why? What chance did the pilots have to find a safe place to land? There was nothing to do butwait, wait for the staggering plane to find its way into the earth so close below them.
    It seemed to come with the crash of the Black’s body against the floor. The plane leaped and jolted, trying to free itself from the trees that sought to clutch and gather it to them. Knowing the crash was coming, Alec pushed against the door to provide an escape for them. It went hard at first, then suddenly burst wide open with a roar of wind. He glimpsed the tops of trees just below, then something snatched him from his feet, tearing him forever from the heaving floor of the plane.
He was outside and falling
. His last conscious thought was a realization that the plane had lifted again, clearing the trees as if in final, angry repulsion of them. Its engines thundered, rising and dwindling, as its dark bulk went on without him.
    Then came the tearing and crashing of his body into the trees. He screamed and his arms flayed wildly. An explosion came, and he knew nothing more but blackness.

T HE U NKNOWN
4
    It was hard … hard … so hard. Yet, finally, he was able to open his eyes. There was nothing for him to see, only darkness. He didn’t care, and closed his eyes again. Slowly, ever so slowly, he was able to raise a hand to his head. He knew it had to be his head, not from touch, but because of the terrible pain that began there and descended and racked his body. He located the great swelling on the crown of his head, but resting his hand there afforded him no relief from the intensity of his pain. He kept his eyes closed, seeking sleep to soothe him and provide solace.
    Sleep did not come, could not overcome his great barrier of pain. He tried opening his eyes again—slowly, because even that slight movement served to increase his suffering. He made a great effort,