Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/207

 now a number of rods distant. That the dusky horseman was in a state of terror need not be repeated. He forced his animal to a pace that quickly brought him beside the other.

“Go it, Firebug!” he called, and the pony changed his trot to a gallop which carried him swiftly down the incline, with Jilk at his heels. “I ’spose our folks am ’bout sebenteen thousand miles back somewhere and it’ll take me a week to find ’em if I got de chance.”

It was like running the gauntlet, when the endangered one expects a fatal blow at every step and is pretty sure to receive it. Jethro glanced to the right and left, over his shoulder and in advance.

The incline made the traveling easy. After reaching the level, there was no reason why the headlong pace should not be kept up for the remainder of the distance to the train.

Amid the fluttering hope and dread, the African nearly pitched from the saddle, when several whoops rang out in the stillness. He was so terrified he could not tell the direction whence they came, but he thought it was from the rear. He drove Jilk to his highest speed and Firebug increased his pace correspondingly.