Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/246

 “All right; if you think you know more than I do, you may run things.”

It did not add to Alden’s serenity of mind to notice that the course was gradually shifting to the left, and finally led directly toward the brush of smoke which still stained the blue tinted sky.

All manner of thoughts crowded upon him. The one hopeful truth was that the living Lightfoot had come over the route unharmed within the last hour. It would seem that Alden ought to be as fortunate as he. All! if he had only had time to question the rider who might have passed through a brush with the redskins!

Another fact gave basis for vague hope: a scrutiny of the whole horizon showed no answering signal. When Indians resort to such telegraphy, as they often do on the plains and among the mountains, there are calls and replies. It is on record that on one occasion the news of the signing of an important treaty at Washington affecting the Sioux was known to that tribe before the telegraphic messages could reach the army officers at the reservation. It was carried westward by Indian telegraphy which none of us fully understands,