Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/223

 others. He partly straightened up in his saddle and looked to the right and left. With relief unspeakable, he suddenly debouched from the broad gorge he had been following, into a wide plateau. On the right, it wound to the foothills a long distance away and stretched as far as the vision could reach to the left. Some three or four miles straight ahead, the comparatively level plain swept until it entered the hills again, beyond which could be seen the snowy peaks of a lofty mountain range.

The plateau must not be looked upon as a smooth plain, for here and there it took a rolling form with arroyas and occasionally boulders that had to be skirted, but, compared with most of the country to the rear, it was an ideal course for a horse and his rider.

And how the pony did go! With a snort he flirted his head, as if he would shake off everything that held him back as easily as he blew aside the fleck of foam that alighted like a snowflake on the knee of his rider. With nose outstretched, mane and tail flying, and the play of each muscle like the working of a splendid machine, he flung the miles to the rear with a rapidity that was almost incredible.