The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1872-06-06

BY MARK 4 J TWAIN.

ITHA a0LDsA1leIs ll0jfx MSS 81
a1 E s., q As 81, fh q &
ny MARK TWAIN.
However, IN q little while, all ID
terest was taken up in stretching oul
neeks and watching for the .'pouy,
rider, the feet messenger who sped
across the continent from st Joc to
Sacramento, carrying letters nineteen
hundred miles ia. eight days. Think
| Of that for perishable horse and hu.
man flesh and blood to do. The pony
rider was usually . little bit Of man,
brimful OF spirit and endurance. No
matter what time of day or night his
watch came on, and no matter wheth-
er it was Winter or summon, Or wheth-
er his "beat" was a level, straight
road, or crazy trail over mountain crags
and precipioes, or whether it led
through peaceful regions, or regions
swarming with hostile Indians, he
must be always ready to leap into the
saddle and be on like the wind.
-, There was no idling time for pony
. rider on duty; He iedo forty miles
without stopping, BY daylight, moon
light, starlight, or through the black
ness Of darkness, just as it happene'.
He rode splendid horse that was
born ior a racer, and fed and lodged like
a gentleman, kept him at his utmost
speed for ten miles; and theo, as he
came crashing up to the station, where
stood two men holding fresh,: impati-
ent, steed, the transfer of rider and
mailbag was made in the twinkling Of
an eye, aad away few the pair, and
were, out sight before the spectators
could get hardly the ghost of a look.
Ct Both rider and horse went flying
light. The riders dress was thin and
fitted close he wore a ''round-about,"
'skull.oap," and tucked his pantaloons
into his boot-tops, like a race.rider.
He carried nothing that vas not ab.
solutely necessary, for even his postage
on his literary freight was worth two
dollars an ounce. He got but little
frivolous correspondence to carry his
lbag had business letters in its mostly
His horse was stripped oiall unnecesaa-
~ weight, too. He wore little wafer
of a saddle, and no visible blanket. He
wore light shoes, or none at all. The
little fat mail pockets, strapped under
the riders thighs, would each hold
shout The, bulk Of . child's primer.
They hold many and many an import
ant business chapter and newspaper
letter. But these we're written on
paper as airy and thin as gold leaf
nearly, and thus bulk and weight
we're economlzed.
The stage coach travelled about a
hundred to hundred and twenty-five
miles a day (twenty.iour hours) the
pony-'ider about two hundred and fifty.
T;'oro wero about eight pony.ridors
in saddle all the time, night and day,
stretching in long, scattering process
sion from Missouri to California-lorty
flying eastward aud forty toward the
West, aud among them, making four
hundred gallant horses earning a stir.
ring livelihood, seeing a deal Of
scenery every day in 2 the, year. We
had Ind aconsumiug desire from the
beginning to see a pony-rider, but
somehow or other all that passed, and
all that met US, managed to streak by
j 10 81 the night, .aad SO We only heard a
whiz and hail, and the swift phantom
ofthe desert was gone before we could
get our heads out Of the windows.
But now we were expecting one along
every moment, and would see him 10
broad day hight. Presently the driver
exclaims, "Here he comes p Every
neck is stretched further, and every eye
strained wider. Away ocross the end
less dead level Of the prairie a speck
appears against the sky, sndi is plain
that it moves. a.l -
Well, should think So! In a sec.
-ond OF, two. it. becomes. horse and rider,
rieiog aud falling-swcepiog nearer
and nesrer-growing more and moro
defned-nearor, and nearer, and the
Autterot boots comes family to the
ear. Another instant, a whoop and
sshur rsh trcm our upper deck, wave
Of the drivers hand, but no reply.
And man and horse burst past our
excited - faces, and 60 wiuging away
like; a fash Of unreal fancy, that, but
for the a'', fake Of white foam, left quiz
e,ing and perishing on a small sack,
after, the vision had flashed by aud
disappeared, we might have doubted
whether we had seen any actual man
and horse at all, may be.
OLD MAIDS.