Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/302

 Often indeed do misfortunes prove blessings in disguise.

All the same, the young man was in a trying situation. Thus far he had been guided by the trail of the dead pony. Now he was deprived even of that slight help. What hope could he have of finding his way to the station in the darkness?

The most pressing question was as to what had become of the fiends who committed this deed. It seemed to Alden they could not be far off, and the important thing for him to do was to get as far away as he could, without any delay.

He dared not push directly forward, for that would lead him over the course where the waiting red men expected the rider to pass. He determined to make a long detour until far removed from the dangerous spot, and then hide until daybreak, when he would renew his search for the station not many miles distant.

All know how hard it is to keep one’s bearings in groping through an unknown country. It is tenfold harder to do so at night, when there is no aid whatever, and nothing to prevent yielding to that curious tendency we all show to travel in a circle.