"Here comes the Pony Express!" This was the cry that Dick Park heard when he first arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri, fresh from New York. The year was 1860. He was to meet his father, who was a rider for the famed mail carriers of those days. But his father was not in St. Joe to meet him, and Dick had to continue his journey by stagecoach.

Riding the Pony Express is the story of Dick's adventures at Owl Creek, one of the way stations at which the riders changed horses. It is the story, too, of Katy Kelly and Little Bear, an Indian boy. How they lived together, played together, and eventually helped to keep the mail moving is told in this simple, fast-moving tale.

The author has composed four songs to introduce several chapters. They are lively tunes, and simply enough for the beginning musician to play and sing himself.

Grace Paull's handsome illustrations—forty of them—make even more graphic this story of one of America's most exciting periods. They are full of the detail and movement that children love.

The author comes naturally by his interest in the Pony Express. He was born and brought up in Missouri. His grandfather was one of the riders who carried the mail from St. Joseph to California. The entire story of Dick Park and his famous ride with the mail might well have taken place in Mr. Bulla's own family.

The young reader of today will catch the excitement of that era and be proud, along with Dick, of the tradition that is still carried on: "The mail must go through."

From the dust jacket of Surprise for Cowboy