Young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over 18. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred. Wages $25 per week. Apply PONY EXPRESS OFFICE.
The Pony Express was created to get the mail form coast to coast. Boys became men, I...
Cat, the pretty pinto mare that was Kylie Ierlands, came to a stop at on a ridge over looking a dry river bed, her rider pulling off the big gray hat on her head and wiping her forehead with her arm.
"Whew its getting hot out.", the blonde said to the mare.
As they sat there the sound of other horses came to their ears. A large group of men galloped towards them, pulling up a few feet away.
"Hey isn't that one o' the boys that caught us?", a man wearing a ratty green shirt asked. The big scar faced leader nodded, "Get him."
Kylie spun Cat around and shot down the hill, half a dozen men on her tail.
"Come on Cat!", the girl urged the horse on. They ran along the ravine in which the river bed lay, then Kylie jumped the mare over a narrow spot in the channel. A horse tripped and went down, but the others kept after her. Finally they made it into the trees, only to be met by the other half of the men. Spinning to the right the pair crashed through the brush and trees, the sounds of pursuit in their ears. Suddenly a gunshot echoed through the woods, followed by a squeal from Cat as she crumpled beneath Kylie. The horse rolled once then lay still, Kylie a foot or so away-the wind knocked from her lungs, waited un-moving for more bullets. Only the sound of horse hooves came to her ears. The hoof beats came right up to them then a voice called out, "We got 'm boss. The horse is hit and the boy must have broken something when he fell." The horse and rider left then all of them faded into the distance. "Cat?", Kylie called softly to her mare. The pinto groaned and struggled to her feet to come over and nudge the girl. Standing the blonde saw a bullet wound in the horse's shoulder. She didn't stop to cry, she just gathered her reins and slowly started towards her original destination: Plant's station.
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"Easy Flash." Lance eased his lanky grey up as darkness began to fall. The big horse seemed to sense something behind them, as he kept wanting to turn around. Lance kept him going, the knowledge that it could be dangerous driving him on. Finally he reached a stream where he got off to drink while Flash nibbled on the grass near the bank. Normally the grey would stay next to his owner, but as Lance lay down to splash some water on his face the horse took off, going back down the trail. "Flash!", the boy hollered hoping to stop his mount. He followed the trail his horse left praying that it was only a deer or buffalo spooking Flash.
The sound of something running towards her jerked Kylie from her doze. Cat had collapsed after bravely limping on for the rest of the day. The bullet had to come out, but Kylie couldn't risk a fire to see to do it and to cauterize the wound with the renegades still in the vicinity. She sent a lot of words heavenward hoping to keep her horse from getting an infection. Slowly the girl stood and slipped behind a tree, waiting for the noise to get closer. With almost no warning a big grey horse appeared through the trees. The loudest noise had stopped, but a faint sound of something else was still there. As she approached the horse recognition dawned.
"Flash?!", she called out incredulously. Cat thrashed around at the sight of her fellow horse, the bullet in her shoulder painful enough it prevented her from standing. Approaching the other horse she petted him, realizing he hadn't come far from the lack of sweat. Quickly she scanned the saddle for blood, seeing none, but beginning to wonder what had happened.
"Where's Lance?", she asked, then shook her head at talking to the horse like a human.
"Lance would be right here.", the curly towheaded boy spoke from behind the horse.
"Lance!", Kylie yelped before launching herself into his arms. The tears began falling now, brought in by worry and strain. Lance held her tight, murmuring soothingly until she finally shuddered and stopped crying.
"Kylie what happened? Why is Cat down?", the boy asked after seeing the mare.
"I don't know what happened Lance, the band of renegades we caught must have escaped form jail! I knew that just me with a pistol was no good, so I ran like Elson told us to. One of them shot Cat and left us for dead...or so they thought. She made it a few more miles before she gave out. I need to get the bullet out, but I didn't want to start a fire and attract attention in case they're still around.", she explained as she hurried over to her horse. Lance followed her, kneeling to look at the wound. Without a word he lit a match to aid the moonlight filtering through the trees as he examined the horse.
"Go ahead and build a fire Kylie, we'll take the chance of discovery.", Lance instructed.
Kylie did as told and soon had a small blaze going. The boy glanced up to see her placing a pocket knife, blade out on the rocks surrounding the fire. He grinned at her knowledge, then got back to work on the wound. When the blade was hot enough Kylie gently moved Lance out of the way to kneel next to her pinto mare.
"It's all right Cat. I'm just gonna get this bullet out and seal the hole. I love you baby girl, you made me proud today. When we get back to Devil's Gate I'll give you a big bucket of grain and some nice, clean hay from the meadow by the creek.", she soothed the mare before beginning to dig the bullet out.
The scream the mare let out was awful. Lance looked over to see Kylie's pale blue eyes full of tears, but her hands steady. Her jaw clenched until he could almost hear the bones grinding, then released as she pulled the knife away revealing the bullet. Blood dripped from her hands as she slapped the re-heated knife down over the wound.
Eventually Cat was feeling good enough to stand, allowing the two riders to catch a little rest. Lance had stripped the saddles from both horses, knowing full well that there was no way he was going to make the rest of his run that night. He couldn't leave Kylie behind and he was beat anyway. Kylie was already almost asleep by the time Lance got settled in. Laying down beside her he was just about to say goodnight when she rolled over and curled up next to him.
"Good night Lance. Thank you." she murmured still mostly asleep.
Lance wrapped his arm around her, then pulled the saddle blanket over them, "Good night Kylie."
It was comfortable, he thought, being able to hold someone when you slept.
