The typical Pony Express rider was a small, wiry man with a taste for adventure. His courage was matched by his incredible endurance. No matter what the weather or time of day, whether his route was a level road or a zigzagging trail across hazardous mountains, whether it led through peaceful settlements or regions swarming with hostile Indians, the Pony Express rider was always ready to leap into the saddle and be off like the wind. He would ride fifty miles without stopping, under a blazing sun or through the blackness of night, to ensure that the mail would go through.

This authentic account of the establishment of the first rapid-communications system between East and West is filled with adventure and real-life heroes—Bob Haslam, who rode unharmed through an ambush of thirty Paiute Indians; Jack Keetley, Warren Upson, and the most famous rider of all, Buffalo Bill Cody. It is a rousing chronicle of the Old West, when danger and excitement marked each galloping trip across the two thousand miles of mountains, plains, and deserts that separated St. Joseph and San Francisco.

From the dust jacket