A thrilling and truthful history of the pony express; or, Blazing the westward way, and other sketches and incidents of those stirring times . anopportunity to exhibit my power ofendurance as a Pony Express rider. For some time matters f)rogressedvery smoothly, though I had no ideathat things would always continue was well aware that the portion ofthe trail to which I had been assignedwas not only the most desolate andlonelv, but it was more eagerlywatched bv the savages than else-where on the long roiite. Blade, the boss, whenever I ar-rived safelv at the station, and beforeI started out
A thrilling and truthful history of the pony express; or, Blazing the westward way, and other sketches and incidents of those stirring times . anopportunity to exhibit my power ofendurance as a Pony Express rider. For some time matters f)rogressedvery smoothly, though I had no ideathat things would always continue was well aware that the portion ofthe trail to which I had been assignedwas not only the most desolate andlonelv, but it was more eagerlywatched bv the savages than else-where on the long roiite. Blade, the boss, whenever I ar-rived safelv at the station, and beforeI started out again, was always veryearnest in his suggestions to look outfor my scalp. , You know, Billy, he would say,I am satisfied yours will not alwaysbe the peaceful route it has been withyou so far. Every time you come inI expect to hear that you have metwith some startling adventure thatdoes not always fall to the averageexpress rider. I replied that I was alwayscautious, made detours whenever Inoticed anything suspicious. Youbet I look out for number one. Thechange soon came. One day, when I galloped intoThree Crossings, my home station, I. Ji iHN- NelsonT>pical Frontiersman found that the rider who was expectedto take the trip out on mv arrival,had gotten into a drunken row thenight before and had been left that division without arider. As it was very difficult toengage men for the service in thatuninhabited region, the superinten-dent requested me to make the tripuntil another rider could be distance to the next station,Rocky Ridge, was eighty-five milesand through a very bad and danger-ous country, but the emergency wasgreat and I concluded to try it. I,therefore started promptly fromThree Crossings without more than amoments rest: I pushed on withthe usual rapidity, entering everyrelay station on time, and accom-plished the round trip of 322 milesback to Red Buttes without a singlemishap and on time. This stands onthe records as being the longestPony
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectfrontierandpioneerli
