Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/282

 After a time it was plain the pony had given up the fight. He was galloping steadily, as if like the others, he had but one ambition in life which was to throw the miles behind him in the shortest possible time. All the same, Alden was on his guard. There was no saying what whim might enter the head of the brute. One of his kind will be good for weeks with no other object than to throw a man off his guard. It did not seem likely that such was the case with the animal Alden was riding, though it might be so. He thought it more probably due to a natural exuberance of spirits, which after a time would wear off.

There was no perceptible change in the character of the country through which he was riding until some four or five miles had been traversed. The undulations were trifling and at the end of the distance named, it may be doubted whether horse and rider were ten feet higher or lower than at their starting point. The surface was rough in many places, but not once did ’Ceph slacken his splendid pace, which must have risen to twenty miles an hour. He had to swerve and occasionally make rather long detours to avoid natural obstacles, but he lost no time. Had the conditions lasted he