In a few days fifty or sixty were engaged??”men noted
for their lithe, wiry physiques, bravery and coolness in moments
of great personal danger, and endurance under the most trying
circumstances of fatigue. Particularly were these requirements
necessary in those who were to ride over the lonely route. It was
no easy duty; horse and human flesh were strained to the limit of
physical tension. Day or night, in sunshine or in storm, under the
darkest skies, in the pale moonlight and with only the stars at
times to guide him, the brave rider must speed on. Rain, hail, snow,
or sleet, there was no delay; his precious burden of letters demanded
his best efforts under the stern necessities of the hazardous service;
it brooked no detention; on he must ride. Sometimes his pathway led
across level prairies, straight as the flight of an arrow. It was
oftener a zigzag trail hugging the brink of awful precipices, and
dark, narrow ca?±ons infested with watchful savages eager for the
scalp of the daring man who had the temerity to enter their mountain
fastnesses.
At the stations the rider must be ever ready for emergencies;
frequently double duty was assigned him. He whom he was to relieve
had been murdered by the Indians perhaps, or so badly wounded, that
it was impossible for him to take his tour; then the already tired
expressman must take his place, and be off like a shot, although he
had been in the saddle for hours.
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