The Old-time Pony Express Of The Great Plains

Tlio pony rider was usually a littlo bit [ u man brim full of spirit, and enduric.c. No matter what time of day or ight his wateh caiuo on, and no matter hether it was winter ov suinmer, raining, nowing, hailing or sleeting, or whether is " beat " was a lovel straight road or a iiv trail over mountain CT&ga aud trecipioes, or whether it lod throngh leaoeful regieras, or regieras that Bwarmed ith hostile Iudians, lio must bo iilways ;ady to Leap into the saddlo and bo off ike the wnd. There wus no idling time oí' a pony rider on duty. He rode forty liles without stopping, by daylight, ïoonlight, starlight, or through the laeknoss of darkuess, just as it hapjjoned .0 rode a splendid horsc, that was bom 'or a race, and fed and lodged like a geneman, kopt him at his utmost speed for on miles, and then, as he came orashnig p to the station where stood two men, ïolding a fresh, impatient stced, the ransfer of rider and mail bag was made n the twinkling of an eye, and away ew the oager pair, and were out of sight efore the spectator could get hardly the 'host of a look. Both rider and horso went " flying light." The rider's dress vas thin and fitted close ; he wore a roundabout and " skull cap," and tucked lis pantaloons into his boot tops, liko a ace rider. He carried no arms - he arried nothing that was not absolutely ecessary, for even his postago on his terary freight was worth two dollars an unce. He got but little frivolous corespondenco to carry, his bag had busiess letters in it mostly. His horso was ;ripped of all unnocossary weight, too. [e woro a little wa&r of a racing-saddle nd no visible blanket. Ho woro light loes, or none at all. The little flat mail jockets, strapped under the rider's thighs, 'ould eaeh hold about the bulk of a tiild's primer. They held niany and many an important business chapter and ewspaper letter. But these wero writen on paper as airy and thin as gold eaf nearly, and thus bulk and weight vore economized. The stage coach travled about a hundred to a hundrod and wonty-five milos a day (twenty-four ïours) ; the pony-rider about two hunred and fifty. There woro about eighty ony-riders in saddle all the time, night nd day, stretching in a long, scattering )rocession from Missouri to California - orty flying castward and forty toward 10 west, and among them, making four uindred gallant horses oarning a stirring iveühood, and soeing a deal of scencry very single day in the year. We had a coiisuming desire from the leginning to seo a pony-rider, but sonieïow or other all fchftt passed us, and all xat met us, managed to streak by in tho ight, and so wo heard only a whiz and a ïail, and tho swift phantom of the deserl vas gone, before we could get our heads ut oí' the windows. But now wo were xp.oting one along overy moment, and vould soe him in broadlight. Presently tie ilrivor exclaims : " Horo he conu ! " Evcry neck is stretohed furthcr, and very eye strained wider. Away across lie endless dead level of the prairie, a )laok speek uppears against the sky, and ; is plain that it moves. Well, I should .hink so ! In ajsecond or two it bocomes horso and rider, rising and fulling - weeping toward us near and nearer - growing more and more sharply distinct, aore and more sharply defined - nearer nd nearer, and tho flutter of the hoofs omes faintly to tho ear - another instant whoop and a hurrah from our appel eek, a wave of the rider's hand, but no eply, and man and horso burst past our xcited faces, and go wringing away like a belated fragment of a storm ! So sudden is it all and liko a flash of unreal faney, that, but for the flako of white foam left quivoring and perishing on a mail sack, after the visión had Hashed by and disappeared, we might have doubted whether we had seen any actual horse and man at all, m:iy be.