and Three Crossings.  For some weeks all went well.  Then, one day when he reached his terminal at Three Crossings, Cody found that his successor who was to have taken the mail out, had been killed the night before.  As there was no extra rider available, it fell to young Cody to fill the dead courier’s place until a successor could be procured.  The lad was undaunted and anxious for the added responsibility.  Within a moment he was off on a fresh horse for Rocky Ridge, eighty-five miles away.  Notwithstanding the dangers and great fatigue of the trip, Cody rode safely from Three Crossings to his terminal and returned with the eastbound mail, going back over his own division and into Red Buttes without delay or mishap — an aggregate run of three hundred and twenty-two miles.  This was probably the longest continuous performance without formal rest period in the history of this or any other courier service.

Not long afterward, Cody was chased by a band of Sioux Indians while making one of his regular trips.  The savages were armed with revolvers, and for a few minutes made it lively for the young messenger.  But the superior speed and endurance of his steed soon told; lying flat on the animal’s neck, he quickly distanced his assailants and thundered into Sweetwater, the next station, ahead of schedule.  Here he found — as so often happened in the history of the express service — that the place had been raided, the keeper slain, and the horses driven off.  There was nothing to do but drive his tired pony twelve miles further to Ploutz Station, where he got a fresh horse, briefly reported what he had observed, and completed his run without mishap.

On another occasion[32] it became mysteriously rumored that a certain Pony Express pouch would carry a large sum of currency.  Knowing that there was great likelihood of some bandits or “road agents” as they were commonly called getting wind of the consignment and attempting a holdup, Cody hit upon a little emergency ruse.  He provided himself with an extra mochila which he stuffed with waste papers and placed over the saddle in the regular position.  The pouch containing the currency was hidden under a special saddle blanket.  With his customary revolver loaded and ready, Cody then started.  His suspicions were soon confirmed, for on reaching a particularly secluded spot, two highwaymen stepped from concealment, and with leveled rifles compelled the boy to stop, at the same time demanding the letter pouch.  Holding up his hands as ordered, Cody began to remonstrate with the thugs for robbing the express, at the same time declaring to them that they would hang for their meanness if they carried out their plans.  In reply to this they told Cody that they would take their own chances.  They knew what he carried and they wanted it.  They had no particular desire to harm him, but unless he handed over the pouch without delay they would shoot him full of holes, and take it anyhow.  Knowing that to resist meant certain