Books: Jack of the Pony Express
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Frank V. Webster >> Jack of the Pony Express
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"I'm--I'm awfully sorry," he said again.
"Oh, you needn't be!" exclaimed Mr. Argent, and he was actually laughing.
"You needn't be."
"Needn't be! What--what do you mean?" gasped Jack.
"Why I mean that those robbers have had their trouble for their pains!
Those letters were only a dummy set, sent through the mail to throw them
off the scent. They contained information of absolutely no value. I thought
there might be a hold-up, Jack, though I could not tell when it would
occur. So I had my friends send me back a dummy set of letters. It was
those useless documents which the hold-up men took. The real letters will
come through later. It's a joke on those outlaws all right," and again Mr.
Argent chuckled.
CHAPTER XII
A RIDE FOR LIFE
Jack Bailey did not know what to do or say. He just stood there in the
morning light, gazing at Mr. Argent, as though to make sure of the miner's
words. Finally he faltered:
"Do you really mean it?"
"Mean it? Of course I do!" was the answer. "It's a joke on those rascals.
They've had all their trouble for their pains. They've gone off with a set
of dummy letters, plans and other mining information that will take them
several weeks to digest. And they'll waste a lot of time trying to locate
the claim. Only they'll be from fifty to a hundred miles from it. Oh,
they'll be fooled all right!"
Jack experienced a sudden revulsion of feeling. He swayed and seemed about
to fall. Dr. Brown caught him.
"Hold on! This won't do!" the physician exclaimed. "We must get him home.
Why he's hurt!" he cried, as he saw the blood on Jack's hands.
"It's just some cuts--from the glass I sawed the rope on," the lad
murmured. Already his strength was coming back to him. He was so glad the
robbers had not obtained the real letters. It was a clever ruse on the part
of the miner.
There was a spring not far from the place where Jack had recovered the mail
bags, and he was given some water from this. His cuts were also washed and
attended to by Dr. Brown. Then on a spare horse that had been brought along
Jack rode back to Rainbow Ridge, one of the men carrying the mail and
express stuff.
There was considerable excitement in town when the cavalcade returned.
Already preparations were under way for the organization of a posse to hunt
the robbers, and if necessary, scour the country for Jack.
But he had been found, and the mail and express matter, except the decoy
letters, recovered. So the only thing left to do was to set out after the
unscrupulous men who had attacked Jack.
There was little chance that they would be apprehended, however. They had a
start of several hours, and probably had good horses.
"Besides," said Mr. Argent, "they will very likely head for the supposed
location of the mine. It will take them out of this immediate
neighborhood," he chuckled.
"And for a good while, I hope," said Mr. Perkfeld.
"Oh yes, it will take them a few weeks to find out they've been fooled,"
the miner said. "But then they may come back again."
"If they do we'll arrest 'em!" declared Jed Monty, cracking his stage whip.
As had been expected, the posse could get little trace of the hold-up men.
They had disappeared after having cast aside the rifled mail pouches. It
developed, however, that a few pieces of registered matter, and some
express stuff had been taken, in addition to the bogus letters. The stolen
stuff was jewelry, and there was not much chance that it would be
recovered. Those to whom it was consigned would have to stand the loss.
But when it was considered that nearly all the valuable mail had come
through safe, or rather, had been recovered, and that Mr. Argent's real
letters were still safe, every one said it was a very lucky outcome indeed.
Jack's cuts did not amount to much, and he wanted to ride the route the
next day after his experience, but Dr. Brown and his father would not let
him. So a substitute was provided, furnishing his own horse, for Jack said
Sunger was too tired to be used without some rest. The pony had made the
trip alone, over the trail, and it was his appearance at the Watson home
which had led to the alarm.
A good rest, and the knowledge that nothing really serious had happened,
did much to restore Jack, and on the second day following his experience he
was back in the saddle again. His cuts had been well bandaged, so he could
use his hands. He was not actually required to ride the express route, but
he would not let any one else do it.
"Maybe I'll get a chance to trace those robbers," he said. "I feel sure I
would know at least one of them again--the man who sat on his horse all the
while. I'm going to be on the watch for him."
The excitement caused by the hold-up of the pony express soon died away. In
western communities there is so much going on that interest is soon shifted
to newer events.
The posse that went out to seek the robbers had no luck in finding them.
All traces seemed to disappear after the bags were found in the old
mine-hole. A man was kept in hiding at that place for nearly a week, ready
to give the alarm if the hold-up men returned to get the pouches which they
had hidden. But they did not come back.
Meanwhile Jack soon became himself again. His father, too, improved slowly,
though he was far from well, and would not be able to ride the trail again
for a long time.
Of course, Jennie had to hear the whole story of the hold-up from Jack
himself, and she sympathized deeply with him.
"Oh, it was just terrible!" she exclaimed, in her impulsive, but sweet and
girlish fashion. "I just can't bear to think of your lying out there all
alone, in the dark, and tied up with ropes!"
"Well, it wasn't exactly a picnic," Jack admitted.
"And to think of your cutting yourself on the glass!" she went on, as she
looked at his hands, one of which she held gently.
"Oh, it might have been worse. If it hadn't been for the glass I might have
lain there a while longer, and in that case I probably would not have found
the stolen mail bags, for if I had waited there until the rescuers came I'd
never have walked down the trail."
"Perhaps it was all for the best," Jennie admitted. "But I do hope nothing
like that happens again."
"Same here!" exclaimed Jack. "Now have you the mail ready?"
And then, for a time, it was business.
For two weeks or more Jack rode the trail, back and forth, carrying the
mail and the pony express matter. He was not again disturbed, and Mr.
Perkfeld gave orders that, except in case of great necessity, he should not
make night trips.
Nothing more was seen of the hold-up men, and Mr. Argent heard no news
concerning his mining business. Whether or not those who had taken the
bogus letters tried to locate the rich claim was not disclosed.
"But the real letters will come along some day--any day now--Jack," the
miner said, "And when they do--"
"When they do no one shall get them away from me!" Jack exclaimed, and he
was not boasting. He meant it. And you shall see how he kept his promise.
Several more attempts were made on the part of those who wanted Jack's
place to supplant him as pony express rider. But he had made himself a
favorite with the stage drivers, as well as with Mr. Perkfeld, who said
Jack could keep on riding the trail until his father was ready to resume
his duties. Several mean little things occurred, which, like the loose
planks in the bridge, Jack felt were designed to make trouble for him. But
he avoided them, fortunately, and none was as serious as the bridge
incident. The author of that remained a mystery, though Jack had his
suspicions.
Jake Tantrell continued to sneer at our hero. He made several efforts to
get Jack's place, even offering to do the work for less money, but his
offer was not accepted.
Then came an unpleasant season, when the fall rains set in. The sun seemed
to have forgotten how to shine, and Jack fairly lived in his poncho, or big
rubber riding blanket that went over his head, protecting him and the mail
bags.
"How's the Ponto river, Jack?" asked his father one day, when the lad had
stopped to speak to the invalid. "Is she rising much with all this water
that's falling?"
"Yes, she's getting pretty high, Dad."
"Look out for the bridge there. It isn't any too strong, and it may go out
with the high water."
"Oh, I'm not worrying about that. They've strengthened it within these last
two weeks, and I guess it will hold. Still the water is high in the
mountains. There's some talk of the Richfield dam not holding."
"Is that so? Well, if that goes out the folks down below will get a
wetting."
"That's what they will! But it may hold until it stops raining."
The Richfield dam was a new one, built above the small settlement of that
name on the flats about three miles to the northeast of the Ponto river.
The Richfield river was a branch of the latter, and was a turbulent stream,
often rising rapidly, for It was confined between steep, high! banks.
Jack had his talk with his father vividly recalled to his mind two nights
later. It was the first time since the hold-up that he had been obliged to
ride at night, but there was some valuable mail that had been delayed, and
that must be put through.
The pony express lad was on his trip toward Rainbow Ridge from Golden
Crossing, and it was dark when he reached the point where the Richfield
river branched off from the Ponto. And at the sight which met his eyes the
lad exclaimed:
"Say, this is certainly high water! I wonder if the dam is holding."
It had rained hard all day. Now it was but drizzling.
"I'm going to take a run down there," Jack decided. "It won't take me ten
minutes, and you can easily make that up; can't you Sunger?"
The pony whinnied in answer.
"I've time enough, anyhow," Jack went on. "I'll just go and take a look at
the dam. The water must be two feet over it now."
He turned off the main trail, and was soon approaching the dam. Before he
reached it he could hear the sullen roar of the pent-up water. And when he
had a view of the impounded flood he saw at once that it had approached the
danger point.
Jack looked critically at the dam. He knew something about such structures,
and about high water.
"I don't believe that dam will last," he argued. "There's too much water
pressure on it." Even as Jack spoke a small portion of the dam, near its
juncture with the shore, gave way, and a large volume of water rushed out.
"That's the start!" cried the pony rider. "She'll all go in half an hour.
I've got to ride down below and warn the Richfield people. Otherwise
they'll be swept away. I've got to ride and warn them!"
There was nothing else to do. Jack called to his faithful pony and guided
him into the trail that led to Richfield on the flats below. If that volume
of water were suddenly to be released through the breaking of the dam, part
of the village would be wiped out. If they were warned in time the populace
in the danger zone could take to the hills on either side and escape.
"Come on, boy!" called Jack to his pony. "It's a ride for life all right!"
CHAPTER XIII
THE INSPECTOR
Down the rocky slope, toward the little settlement on the flats below the
dam, rode Jack. He thought rapidly. If he could beat the flood, there would
be time to warn the sleeping population so they could flee to the hills.
There were not many who had their homes in the danger zone, not more than
twenty-five families.
"I'll wake some of 'em up," Jack reflected, "and then they can warn the
others. I don't imagine they'll have time to save anything. Too bad! But
that dam is certainly going."
The rain came pelting down once more, the drops stinging in Jack's face. He
tried to listen, to ascertain if he could hear the roar of the waters that
would indicate that the dam had already gone out, but all he could catch
was the splash of the rain.
Jack's course was along the now turbulent stream that was formed from the
overflow of the pent-up waters. In normal times this was but a mere brook,
most of the waters being led off through a pipe line to supply a distant
irrigation scheme. But now there was so much water that not only was the
pipe line filled, but the overflow from the dam had turned the brook into a
river.
"The people ought to have seen the danger, and gotten out before this,"
reflected Jack, "but perhaps they haven't. Well, I'll do my best to save
'em!"
On galloped the faithful pony. Jack wished he could put the mail and
express stuff somewhere until he could conclude his ride for life, but it
would not be safe to leave it anywhere. Fortunately, he had not much of a
load that night.
To Jack it seemed that he never would reach the little town, nor see the
lights of the first cabin loom into sight.
"That is there'll be lights if the folks are up," mused Jack, "and I hope
some of them are. There'll be some tall scrambling if I have to get 'em all
up out of bed."
The rain was a perfect torrent now, and the lad realized that, with all
this additional water falling into the reservoir, and with what it would
receive from the swollen mountain streams flowing into it, the dam would be
further endangered.
The pony slipped and almost fell as he went around a bad turn, where the
trail was filled with rocks.
"Look out there, Sunger!" Jack cautioned him, as he pulled up the faithful
animal "This is no time to fall!"
But Sunger recovered himself, and galloped on.
Suddenly a light flashed into view, then another.
"A house!" exclaimed Jack. "The first one. Now for the alarm!"
He rode up to the door, glad in his heart that the light was burning.
"Though that doesn't indicate that they're awake," the lad mused.
He pounded on the door, not getting out of the saddle.
"Get up! Get up!" he cried. "The dam will give way in a moment! Get up, and
help give the alarm!"
There was a moment of silence, broken only by the patter of the rain.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Jack cried, again pounding on the portal.
This time he heard, after a wait of a few seconds, some one moving in the
house, then a sleepy voice demanded:
"What is it? What's the matter? Who's there?"
"Never mind who I am!" Jack replied. "It's the pony express rider, between
Golden Crossing and Rainbow Ridge, if you have to know. But the dam is
giving way! It may have gone out now! There'll be the biggest kind of flood
on these flats in half an hour! Get up! Take to the hills!"
The door was thrown open, revealing a man wrapped in a blanket He seemed
just to have gotten up out of bed.
"What's that?" he inquired, sleepily.
Jack repeated his warning. The man understood now. He rushed back in to the
room.
"Come on, 'Mandy!" he yelled. "Git the children! Hustle into what clothes
you can! We've got to skip! The dam is going out! Quick now!"
"Warn the others nearest you!" Jack cried, as he turned Sunger away from
the house. "I'm going to ride on down below and give the alarm."
"I will!" the man answered. "You've probably saved our lives!"
A woman could be heard crying, and children were screaming in fear within
the house, but Jack could not stay for that. There were others to warn.
On he rode, going past without pause the few houses near that of the man he
had first called. Jack depended on him to give the alarm to his neighbors.
But the lad called at other cabins, repeating his warning. Some folk he had
difficulty in arousing, but the news soon spread, and in a short time the
whole settlement was on the alert.
As Jack knocked on the door of the last house, farthest removed from the
upper end of the settlement, he heard far off a dull boom like the
reverberation of an explosion.
"There goes the dam!" cried Jack. "Now the flood will come!"
But the people had been warned in time. They had no chance to save anything
save their most easily-carried belongings, and with these they fled to high
ground.
The noise Jack had heard was the breaking of the dam, and a little later a
great wall of water swept down the narrow valley. It carried everything
before it, sweeping away the frail cabins in its path. But there was no
loss of human life, thanks to the brave pony rider.
Jack wished he could stay and help the unfortunates, but he had other
duties. And, anyway, the residents on the higher ground, who were in no
danger, came to the relief of their neighbors. Houses were thrown open to
those whose homes had been swept away, and the refugees were given
clothing, food and shelter.
The flood did not last long, for the reservoir was soon emptied. But in
that short time it did great damage; that is comparatively great, for the
cabins were mostly those of poor persons.
The mass of water gradually subsided, though the heavy rains had made a
river of the mountain brook, and it was several days before it went back to
its normal level. Then the work of repairing the damage of the flood was
taken up.
When Jack saw, that night, that he had done all he could, he turned back on
the trail, for the mail must not be delayed longer than could be helped,
and already nearly three hours had been lost.
It was almost morning when he rode into Rainbow Ridge with the first news
of the burst dam. He made light of his own part in the affair, but that
came out later, and much honor was paid the lad. He bore his honors
modestly, however, and the greatest praise--or what he considered such--was
when his father said:
"I'm proud of you, Jack, my boy!"
Relief for the unfortunate flood victims was sent both from Rainbow Ridge
and Golden Crossing, and when Jennie heard of the disaster she insisted on
doing up some of her own clothing and forwarding it to some of the girls
who had lost theirs.
Every one helped, as is always the case at a time like that, and though
many families lost everything, still there was no mourning for lives that
never could be given back. Jack had provided against that by his brave
ride.
It was two weeks after the flood, and now the mountains were calm and
peaceful again. The long season of rain had passed, and the weather was
glorious. Jack enjoyed every moment of it as he rode the trail.
"It certainly is a great life!" he reflected. "I'm glad the way is so
rough, otherwise they'd be wanting me to use a motor-cycle or an
automobile. But none of them for me, while I have you, Sunger!"
The pony whinnied his answer, as Jack patted him on the neck.
"Well, anything big to-day, Jennie?" he asked, as he rode up to the Golden
Crossing office one afternoon. "Anything important? Why, what's the
matter?" he asked in some concern. "You look worried."
"I am, Jack," she said, and she did not answer his smile.
"What about? Your mother isn't ill; is she? You haven't lost any registered
letters?"
"No, it isn't that, but a post office inspector has been here, asking me a
lot of questions. He intimated that things weren't being done right, and
he's coming back in an hour to check up my accounts."
"Well, I suppose they have to do what they're hired for. Was he mean or
ugly?"
"No, but he seemed terribly in earnest. And suppose my accounts aren't
exactly right? I may have made little mistakes. Then he'll report me and
I'll lose my office. Oh, Jack, I couldn't bear that!"
"Don't worry," Jack soothed her. "I'll stay and have a talk with this
inspector. Maybe I can help straighten matters out, if they're a bit wrong.
You say he is coming back in an hour?"
"Yes, and the time is nearly up. There he is now."
Jack looked out, and a strange feeling came over him as he saw a large man,
on an unusually high horse riding up to the post office.
"Is he the inspector?" asked the pony rider.
"Yes," Jennie answered.
Jack shut his teeth grimly, and a strange look came over his face.
CHAPTER XIV
THE CHASE
"On, Jack, what shall I do?" asked Jennie. She was trembling, and seemed
much alarmed.
"Do? Why you don't have to do anything," the pony express rider answered.
"Let this inspector ask his questions, and then we'll see what course to
take."
"Oh, but suppose he finds something wrong--not the proper amount of stamps
on hand--I can't be sure I counted them right"
"Say, little girl, don't you worry!" Jack went on. "I don't believe this
fellow will do much questioning."
"Why, Jack, what makes you talk that way? He's a government inspector. He
told me so! Do you know him?"
"I rather think I do, but I'm not sure," Jack answered. Again there was a
grim shutting of his lips, and a determined look came into his eyes. "I
want to hear him speak first," the lad said "Then I can tell better."
The inspector, if such he were, had stopped outside the post office to
light a cigar. He sat easily on his big horse, and Jack could not help
admiring the noble animal. The man himself was a fine physical specimen,
but he had a hard, cruel face, and shifty eyes. There was no one in the
immediate vicinity of the post office at that time, for Jack had delivered
the mail an hour before, and he had sauntered back to the office, after
doing some errands about town, to have a talk with Jennie. The other mail
would not arrive for another hour, so there was no excuse for the gathering
of the crowd which always awaited the incoming mail.
Having lighted his cigar, the man again advanced slowly. He looked all
about, Jack thought, to see if he was likely to be interfered with, but
this may not have been so.
He dismounted with easy grace, and tied his horse to a post in front of the
office. Then he sauntered in. Jack sat down in a chair behind a door, out
of sight. He did not want the inspector to see him until the right moment.
"Well, Miss--er--Blake, I believe you said your name was," began the man,
and his tone was insolent, "I suppose you are ready to have me go over your
accounts now?"
Jack started at the sound of his voice.
"That's the fellow--I'm positive of it!" he thought "Now I've got him--got
one of them, anyhow! Oh, this is luck!"
Jack's eyes gleamed.
Jennie hardly knew what to make of the situation. She half expected Jack to
do something, or say something, to help her.
Still she was postmistress, and only she was qualified to answer the
official questions. But if something was wrong?
"Well, then maybe Jack will help me out," she thought. She was trembling
and was much upset. It was the first time an inspector had called at her
little office.
"Now, I want to see the records of the registered mail, going and coming,
Miss Blake. I also must check over your stamps and cash. Have you had in,
lately, any special delivery stuff?"
"Why, yes--that is--Oh, I hardly know where to begin," said the flustered
girl, wishing Jack would say something, "You see I've never been inspected
before."
"Humph!" sneered the man. "You act as though something was wrong. Most
offices where I go don't have such nervous persons in charge. If everything
is all right you have nothing to fear. Perhaps you had better step outside
and let me go over matters myself. That would be better, and you wouldn't
be so nervous.
"If everything is all right you have nothing to fear, and if there is
something wrong, well, I'll be as easy in my report to Washington as I can.
I won't make it too hard for you. Yes, I think that will be best. Just
leave the office to me for a little while."
Jennie flashed, over the man's head, a look at Jack in the corner behind
the door. The young pony express rider had arisen, and, to her alarm,
Jennie saw his hand go toward the pocket where she knew he carried his
revolver--a new one since the robbers had taken his first one.
Jennie wanted to scream.
"Just run along, little girl, and let me have the place to myself," the man
urged.
It was time for Jack to act.
He fairly sprang out from behind the door and confronted the man.
"Are you sure," Jack asked, "that if she left the post office to you that
you wouldn't run off with it?"
The man started back. He turned a little pale, and then a flood of red
surged into his face. He seemed to recover himself with an effort.
"I--I don't know what you mean. Who are you?" he demanded, curtly.
"Never mind who I am, but who are you?" and Jack fairly shot out the words.
"Why, I'm the post office inspector for this district," was the answer, and
again the man's tone was sneering. "Are you connected with the department,
if I may ask?"
"I am," said Jack, grimly.
"In what capacity?"
"Pony express rider!" shot out Jack. "The same pony express rider that you
and your gang of outlaws held up not long ago! I know you now. I was sure
of you the minute I set eyes on you on that big horse, and when I heard
your voice I was doubly sure. Wearing your mask didn't help any. I know
you! You're no more a post office inspector than I am. You're a post office
robber, that's what you are!"
The man started to speak, but stopped suddenly. As Jack was about to draw
his weapon to order the man to submit, the fellow with a sudden leap was
out of the place. In another instant he had jumped to the back of his
horse, yanking loose the tie rope as he leaned over the saddle. Then with a
clatter of hoofs he was off.
Jennie screamed, but Jack, flashing past her to get outside, yelled:
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