JACK'S TRICK--CONCLUSION
Jack called to his horse, which really was a speedy mount.
"Come on, old boy!" he cried. "You may not be as good as Sunger, but he's
had a hard time lately, being kept out among the mountains, and I don't
believe he's up to the mark. We may catch him if that fellow stays to the
road, though ordinarily my pony would run away from you, Dobbin."
Jack didn't care much what he called this horse. But he really liked the
animal, as he did all horseflesh, and the beast responded readily to him.
On they swept down the mountain trail. Jack's eyes watched eagerly as he
made turn after turn at top speed; but for some time he saw no signs of any
rider ahead of him.
"There's no way of getting off on a side trail for the next half mile,"
reflected Jack, as he rode on. "If I can come up to him in that distance
I'll have him."
He felt to see if his revolver was in readiness. He did not know just what
he would do, but it was a desperate situation, or it would be if he should
overtake the fellow.
And luck was with Jack--luck and good judgment. As he made the last turn in
that part of the trail from which there was no escape by a side road, he
saw, just ahead of him, a rider on a horse which Jack knew in a moment.
"That's Sunger!" he cried. "I've found him!"
Of course Jack could not be sure that the man on his pony was the same one
who had robbed the safe. But Jack knew his own steed, and when, out West, a
man is found riding a stolen horse, it is prime evidence against him. He
has to prove his case, and is subject to arrest on sight. Of course he may
have innocently acquired the stolen animal; but he has to prove this to be
the case.
"That's my pony, and I'm going to have him back!" thought Jack. "And I'm
going to get that man, too! Come on, boy!"
For one of the few times in his life Jack used the whip. But he was humane.
His horse responded with a burst of speed. But now the man ahead, hearing
galloping hoofs behind him, urged on Sunger. And Sunger still could run.
Though Jack saw, with regret, that his pony had suffered, still the
wonderful speed of the animal had abated but little.
"He's going to get away from me!" cried the lad, as he saw how Sunger was
running. "And that's the man, else why should he try to escape?"
Then Jack began to think quickly. He had trained Sunger to halt instantly
when he called "Whoa!" to him, in a certain tone. If the animal were going
at top speed, and Jack yelled that word, Sunger would brace up with his
fore feet, slide with his hind ones, and bring up standing, like a train of
cars when the engineer throws on the emergency air brakes.
Of course Jack was never in the saddle when he worked this trick with
Sunger. Had he been he might have been hurt. But he had given his pony this
training so that in going down dangerous slopes Sunger would know how to
bring himself suddenly to a halt.
"I wonder if I can make him hear," thought Jack. "If I can, and if he'll
stop, there'll be something doing in a minute."
Jack saw that he could not hope to overtake the man ahead of him by an
ordinary chase. The horse the pony rider bestrode was not fast enough. And
a short distance ahead was a place on the trail where the suspect could
escape by a side path.
"Here goes!" murmured Jack.
In his loudest voice he cried out:
"Whoa, Sunger!"
Something happened at once. The pony, which had been running his best in
order not to let the horse behind pass him, pulled up so short that the man
was flung with great force from the saddle, and over Sunger's head. Over he
went, vainly trying to save himself, and the next moment he landed heavily
on the side of the trail and did not move.
"Well, I guess that ends your riding for a time," thought Jack, grimly.
Then he rode forward while Sunger, with a whinny of delight, turned back to
meet his master.
"Oh, Sunger! Sunger, old boy! You did it!" cried Jack. Then his heart smote
him as he saw the motionless figure beside the trail.
Pausing only a moment to caress his recovered pony, Jack hastened to the
side of the man who had been thrown off by Sunger's sudden stopping. The
fellow was a stranger to Jack, who could not tell whether or not he was the
post office robber. The man was unconscious, and, with little compunction,
Jack rapidly searched through his pockets.
In an inner one he came upon a package. With beating heart Jack pulled out
the bundle. He knew it in a moment. It was the packet of letters addressed
to Mr. Argent. A look at the seals convinced the lad that they had not been
broken.
"Talk about luck!" he cried, "I'm certainly in it to-day! I've got Sunger,
got the papers back, and caught the robber, too. At least I think he must
be the safe-cracker, though I can't be sure. I've got him right! Sunger,
old boy, we worked the trick to perfection!"
Jack thrust the strangely-recovered package into his pocket, and then gave
more attention to the man. He lay senseless, and from the manner in which
one leg was doubled up under him Jack felt sure it was broken.
"But it couldn't be helped," he mused. "I had to stop you, and you brought
it on yourself. I'll go and get help for you, though."
Jack worked quickly. His first care was for his pony, who was delightedly
rubbing his velvet nose against his master. Sunger did not appear to have
suffered so much as Jack had feared.
"I guess you can ride trail yet," Jack mused. "I'll use you in place of
Dobbin."
He transferred the mail sacks to his own pony, and then rode back to the
cabin, taking the other horse with him.
"For you might come to, and manage to ride off," Jack said looking at the
unconscious man. But the fellow did not. He was still senseless when the
help sent by Jack reached him.
As for our hero, he rode post-haste into Rainbow Ridge, where, after
stopping but a moment to tell his father the good news, he hastened to
deliver the recovered packet to Mr. Argent and tell his news.
"Say, you don't mean to say you have it Jack!" cried the miner. "Why,
that's great! And it's all here, too--every paper!" he added as he broke
the seals and made a quick examination. "Now everything will be all right,
and we'll start to work the mine. That fellow you caught didn't have time
to deliver the goods and didn't dare go where he could do so. It was a
great trick! Great!"
Jack was pretty well pleased with himself.
The rest of the story is soon told. The man whom Jack had caught by the
trick of making the pony stop suddenly was not mortally hurt, though a
broken leg, and other injuries laid him up for some time. He confessed he
was the safe-robber, and a member of the outlaw gang that had been engaged
by the enemies of Mr. Argent to get possession of the papers.
And, as the miner had surmised, the trails had been so quickly and closely
watched and guarded, that he had had no chance to communicate with those
who engaged him, to give them the papers he stole from the safe. He and
Ryan, as well as others, had worked together to waylay Jack, or, in any
manner they could, get possession of the documents.
This much was learned from the man's confession, and, though he did not
disclose the whereabouts of his confederates, they were captured a little
later, and sent to prison for long terms. Jack's testimony went far in
this, for he identified Ryan, as well as the bogus post office inspector,
who was also one of the men who held him up.
Ryan was among the first arrested, and admitted that he had planned for
some time to drug Jack, and had seen his opportunity the day the pony went
lame.
Not only was Mr. Argent's mine secured to him, and the pony express route
rendered safe by the capture of the outlaw band, but several other crimes
in the vicinity were cleared up. The gang was at the bottom of them.
"Well, I only wish I could be cleared of suspicion in that Harrington
matter," said Mr. Bailey one day, a month or so later, when he had so far
recovered that he was thinking of going back to the pony express route.
"Maybe you will be. The trials of those fellows aren't ended yet," Jack
said. "Maybe something will come out in them."
And that is just what happened. In the testimony, it was brought out that,
for some time, confederates of the outlaws, of whom Jake Tantrell was one,
had been trying to get for one of their number the position of pony express
rider. They thought if they did this they would have no trouble in robbing
the mail.
One of these unscrupulous men was responsible for the leakage of the
information contained in the Harrington letter. This was admitted, and Mr.
Bailey was cleared of all blame in the matter.
It was Tantrell, too, who loosened the planks in the bridge, just as Jack
suspected.
"Well, that makes me feel fine!" Mr. Bailey said, when the good news came
to him. "It's all your doings, Jack, catching that fellow!"
"No, it's Sunger's," Jack said, with a laugh. "If he hadn't learned the
trick of stopping suddenly the man might have gotten away, and the mine
might have been lost to Mr. Argent."
"But it wasn't lost," said the miner, "and as a little reward for your
pluck and services, Jack, I'm going to give you a small interest in one of
my mines, for I have two."
"Oh, I don't want any reward!"
"But you're going to need it some day. You can save the income for the time
when you'll want to get married; eh?" and he pinched Jennie's blushing
cheek.
Jennie didn't say anything. But she looked at Jack, and he would have
blushed as red as she, only he could not. He was too tanned.
In due time Mr. Bailey fully recovered, and was able to take up his former
work of riding pony express. Jack regretted giving it up, glad as he was to
have his father out again. But Mr. Perkfeld was as good as his word, and
Jack soon had another route to ride, and one where he could see Jennie
nearly as often as before.
Jennie still kept her place as postmistress at Golden Crossing, but there
was no more danger from the outlaws or the bogus inspector, as they had the
prospect of long terms in prison before them.
"And when they do come out you won't be working in the office here any
more," said Jack, with a smile.
"How do you know?" Jennie asked demurely.
"Oh, I just guess it," was the answer, and he looked at Jennie in a way
that meant a good deal.
End of Project Gutenberg's Jack of the Pony Express, by Frank V. Webster