Show THE PONY EXPRESS RIDER A tale of the old wet by ARTHUR copyright 1909 by joseph bow silence hung heavy in the plaza of santa fe late one afternoon in 1862 suddenly there came a clatter of hoots unsteady with weariness scattering the stillness with sharp echoes A man coming out at the moment from one of the low adobe buildings waved hand and the rider drew up short and stopped the two men as they faced each other were in striking contrast one stood with his feet well apart sinews pulled tight like wire rope over his slight frame the other broad shoulders bent with fatigue begrimed with dirt but black eyes flashing with the un subdue 1 fire of youth swung himself from the sweating panting beast they were both pony express riders the dismounted rider s knees gave un der him and he leaned against his horse for support asked the older man with a malevolent grin the young fellow stared at him vaguely for a moment then a thought deemed to strike him for he leaned for ward eagerly look a here harry I 1 m petered you re fresh you go to fort union an lack for me fer a ten I 1 II 11 go said the other and they walked slowly to the corral halt an hour later old harry simmons rode down the plaza meanwhile ralph mead was lying sprawled on a narrow bunk in the corral sleeping the sleep of sheer exhaustion ralph mead had been left fatherless motherless and penniless when he was 11 years old his nearest relatives had bound him out to a hard headed con farmer who believed in cor punishment for persons than himself three months later the boy slipped out of the house of his slay ery and started west in pursuit of ex cit ement and happiness he was now 18 years old with the muscle and judg ment and experience of a frontiersman of 30 the sun was glaring sullenly through the doorway when he awoke suddenly here you mead git up an out this what s matter he asked still half asleep you ve got to go to fort union mead smiled reproachfully and lying back once more curled up on the bunk and closed his eyes harry simmons gone fort union he said sleepily simmons s dead killed and scalped at pecos church he heard the voice say then he jumped to his feet and threw on his clothes as he listened party of mexicans just came in found simmons indians out Nava hoes and white mountain apaches regular trail dangerous these were the words that his now acute senses heard and understood the black mustang had killed two men and had maimed a third before STARTED WEST mead had broken him now he was the rider s slave and proud of it no one else dared ride him and so on they went through the hot sunshine mead s brain steadied by sleep his senses keen his horse throbbing beneath him and danger ahead As he rounded a turn in the trail into which a great rock had jutted and ob scared the view the bloody scene lay quivering before him at the right of the roadway indians at the left andl ans crouching behind boulders bowl ders hiding in the chaparral slipping sinuously among the high bunch grass fighting across the trail that lay before him only a second he hesitated he could not go back some of them had ably already seen him I 1 started fer fort union he mut and by th eternal I 1 m coln mead dropped the rein over the high pommel of his saddle and leaning tor ward lay close to the mustangs neck seizing as he did so the revolvers from his high boots almost instantly they were in the midst of it the beast ing sure footed over dead bodies still warm in the alkali dust the man shoot ing at random to both right and left an bellowing at the top of his voice almost before he knew it he was past them and boring straight on through the whistling wind his mad daring had saved him tern por arlly but it had also united the fight ing war parties they were probably the same bands which had ambushed simmons and had later cut across to the canyon and quarreled there they were coming mead beai ed a deep sign and called again to the mustang they started down the narrow trail beyond A low rambling structure like a group of huts sprang up suddenly beside the road and in the doorway stood a girl mead started as he saw her a girl an 1 those devils behind the mustang plowed her fore feet into the ground and stopped half mile back comin rapid he shouted the girl of gool height for a woman broad hipped full breasted a healthy red showing through the tan of her cheeks her smooth brown hair braided carelessly to her waist her arms akimbo stared at him doubtfully as he filled with quick slaps the empty chambers of a revolver git along stranger she called in singsong tones reckon you re afeard the mustangs ears at that instant stood straight once more and quivering mead turned upon the girl and covered her with the revolver git yer horse an yer family goin quick he orde ed deliberately for a second the alil did not move but smiled defiantly at him then she stood bolt upright tense listening sha heard now the confused rumble of many horses faraway at which the tired mus tang was already dancing impatiently she disappeared within the buildt buil dm while he sat in the narrow trail the noise of the pursuit growing rapidly louder in his ears A frightened came from somewhere at the rear of the main cabin a door slammed an I 1 a single squatty dirty yel ow mustang sprang into sight around the corner of the structure the girl straddling its bare back at that moment shrieking echoing yell arose behind them they had been seen then the race began once more the black mustang pounding doggedly behind the wicked pace of the yellow beast two miles farther on he came up with the girl as they were fording a banow creek ain t seen an injun sence we ve ben she gasped between breaths is it in explanation dad he s went to santa fe th canyon she nodded her head as they reached the farther bank and she took the lead again but the black mustang was weakening his gait wavered his eye were bloodshot at last he stumbled and fell on one knee the leg snapped and he lay quivering across the trail the girl turned abruptly and came back mead took the mail bags from the mus tang s back and threw them to her hold bad while ye git a start he said laconically drawing his pistols he turned to face the trail good by he called over his shoulder stranger the girl said quietly he whirled and faced a small pistol she ha 1 drawn from her belt git up behind quick I 1 ain t a coln to budge a foot et ye don t she added as he hesitated mead laughed aloud as he thought how quickly she had turned his own game upon him then she laughed also as ht turned and mercifully shot the blacet mustang before leaping up behind her the yellow mustang struggled for ward bravely under the double burden but the contest was unequal the hoof beats behind them grew louder and at last they could hear the noise of gut tural voices from behind the turns in the winding trail A few moments gatei an arrow struck fire in the roadway be side them then as mead reached down tor a revolver the girl uttered a low cry there was the fort less than i mile away its bare walls looming gray in the distance together they spurred the straining beast beneath them down he long in ell ie while arrows and an occasional bullet whirred and sang about them they could hear now the quick breath ol 01 the tired horses behind them the tri shouts the beat of stinging thongs upon a dozen haunches now came the short uphill stretch to the fort a little more than a quarter of a mile away but the exhausted mustang shivered with each bound up the ascent his reach growing shorter his pace slow er two arrows struck him almost at the same instant and he tell heavily but mead had jumped clear carrying the girl with him they were on their feet quickly run he called his first shot rang out and an indian trailed from the sad die others went down before his steady aim as he ran backward up the in dine his left arm tell limp and the pistol dropped to the ground some one picked it up some one was firing calm ly beside him the horses were almos on them and the sneering gloating painted faces when he heard vaguely a rumbling many voiced cheer behin I 1 him then the foremost indians bookel beyond him and wheeled suddenly and dashed down the hill in scattering con fusion A few days later a man his arm still in a sling rode down the hill from fort union A girl rode beside him the man looked at her furtively now and then and his rugged face showed em barras say he said at last I 1 ve got a red colored temper I 1 m mean I 1 am huh she answered staring at the trail the man hesitated tor a moment I 1 ve got 14 17 exact he remarked the girl did not change her position the man was silent tor a moment or two where re ye headin fer he asked with something like a sigh she turned and looked at him a smile quivering about her full lips where re you all goin 9 she asked the two horses came close together and stopped short to the tug of their bridles after a time they went on once more what 11 er dad say asked the man dad returned the girl patting her mustang s neck caressingly he t good fer much tho he meant right dad did ef he s alive he 11 jest go off bout his business say cried the man a thought sud denly striking him yer name annie she said |