Westerns
I had felt almost smug striding into town, but leaving again made me realize that the wild country ahead was probably beyond my imagining. Already the way had been difficult, but judging by stories told by some of the men who had traveled this way before, only the very strongest, the most determined, survived to see the Cariboo. Would I be one of them?
Flame quivered beneath me, ready to fly off the moment I asked.
"The mail's been stopped one minute and twenty seconds," Uncle Billy said. "That's more than long enough."
He slapped Flame on the rump and the horse leaped forward as if shot from a cannon. The sudden movement caught me off guard and for one horrible second I thought my career as a Pony Express rider was over before it started.
If Burlington Northern were tied up outside, Knuckles McGraw could leap through the window right onto his back and gallop away before anyone knew he was gone. But for now he has to creep down the stairs, avoiding the creaky ones, carrying his shoes in one hand and his lunch kit in the other. He shoves his shoes under his arm so he can turn the front-door handle. It opens without making a sound.
