Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/331

 carry the mail to the next station. When he gets there he’ll wait for his friends, and be gone long before we can come up with him.”

And this conclusion did not add to the young man’s peace of mind. He must pass the dragging hours as best he could until the arrival of his friends. He rose to his feet with the intention of taking the back trail to meet them, but gave over the plan when he reflected that the breadth of the route made it very easy for him to miss them.

“It would be my luck to do so,” he growled; “everything goes wrong with me.”

The man inside the cabin having cleared away the dishes and set matters to right, sat down on a bench and began mending his clothes; two others had gone off to look after the horses, which were grazing some distance away among the foothills. Probably they would go on a little hunt before their return. Cal the diminutive rider came out, bringing a stool with him and placed it beside the glum Alden.

“Sorry you feel so bad, my young friend: I had no idea of anything of the kind. Ross never told me of the trouble between you and him.”