Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/17



EVER did the town of St. Joseph, in the State of Missouri, pass through more stirring excitement than on the afternoon of April 16, 1860.

Every man, woman and child seemed to feel the pulsing in the air. Most of the people were on the street, though hundreds of mothers and daughters were at the upper windows, on the alert that something which was expected should not elude them. The men talked together in earnest voices, sometimes moving restlessly over the pavements, glancing at their watches and saying, in those hushed, eager tones which often accompany tense emotion:

‘It’s pretty near time! I hope he won’t be late.”

“No fear for Alec; he’s always on time.”