"They want riders—young riders—good riders!" The news spread quickly from ranch to ranch. Cowboys, stagecoach drivers, trappers, and prospectors rushed to join the newly-formed Pony Express. This business of carrying the mails across country sounded mighty exciting!

Although it offered high adventure to young men, the Pony Express was also a badly needed service. Deliveries of mail to California were so poor that the western settlers had begun to feel that they were no longer part of the United States. No wonder they welcomed this new express that promised to bring letters from the East speedily and regularly!

Samuel Hopkins Adams, the author of many tales about the early United States, has written a thrilling history of the "Pony." Its pages are filled with stories of the "bad men," outlaws, and Indians who were a constant threat to the mail riders.

Mr. Adams traces the history of the Pony Express from the day it was planned by Russell, Majors, and Waddell. He draws life-size pictures of Bolivar Roberts, the company's manager, "Buffalo Bill" Cody, "Wild Bill" Hickok, and the other men who carried packages of mail across mountains and deserts, through heat and snow.

This book has all the excitement of a good motion picture about the early West. More than that, its people are so alive and their adventures so real, that many readers will want to run off and join the Pony Express without a moment's delay. They will forget that they "Pony" riders did their work long, long ago.

From the dust jacket