pony express to the rescue

7/29/2019 Pony Express to the Rescue

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pony-express-to-the-rescue 1/19

by Cameron Cook illustrated by Bob Dellinger



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ISBN 0-15-323152-1

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ISBN 0-15-325512-9 (Grade 3 Below-Level Collection)

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by Cameron Cook

illustrated by Bob Dellinger

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2

Like many other farmers and ranchers,

the Bede family had come to town to

watch a special event. Soon they saw a

cloud of dust and heard hoofbeats. Then

the Pony Express rider dashed into town!Everyone cheered. The mail he was

carrying had come to California all the way

from St. Joseph, Missouri. It had not taken

months, as it always had before. It had

taken only a little more than a week!



3

“It’s the start of a new time,” Mr. Bede

said to his wife, Cora, and their daughterMartha. Then they rode back to their

ranch.

The Bede family raised cows. Their

ranch did not make a huge profit. Even so,

Mr. Bede often said he would rather be a

rancher than do any other job.



4

“Tell me more about the Pony Express,”Martha said to her father when they got

home. She was his oldest daughter. They

were out in the fields, tending the herd.

Together they were looking for stray cows

to put back in the corral. From there, the

cows would go to market.



5

“The Pony Express hires young men,”

Mr. Bede said. “They must be strong and

ride a horse very well. Most importantly,

they must be brave. The trail across the

country is not always easy. They never

know what the weather will be like. These

riders must be very light, too. That way,

the horse can run quickly when carrying

both the mail and the rider.”



6

“The riders change horses every 15

miles. Then, after about 75 miles, a new

rider takes over. To think that mail can

travel so far so quickly! The Pony Express

comes all the way from Missouri here to

Sacramento, California.

“It costs a lot of money to send a letter

by Pony Express. But if you ever need to

send something quickly, this will be thebest way to do it.”



7

The next day, Mr. Bede called to his wife.

“Cora? Have you seen my medicine?”

Mrs. Bede came in. “No, Charles. Did youlook in our medicine chest?” she asked.

“It’s not in there!” Mr. Bede said. He

sounded scared. They looked everywhere,

but the medicine was missing. Martha knew

that meant trouble. Her father had a serioushealth condition. If he didn’t take his

medicine, he would become very sick.



8

“What will I do?” Mr. Bede cried. He put

his head in his hands.

Then Martha spoke up. “What about the

Pony Express, Papa?” she asked. Her

father looked up.

“That might work,” he said with a nod. A

Pony Express rider was due in the next

day. He could send a message with him.

The medicine could return on the next trip.

“It will cost a lot of money,” Mr. Bede said.



9

“Oh, Charles, don’t even think of that!”

Mrs. Bede said. She set out to town to give

the message to the Pony Express.The next day, the Pony Express rider

arrived at the station. “There is a very

important letter in there,” the postmaster

told him. “A rancher needs his medicine.

Take care!”The rider was off, heading east toward

Missouri. Many days of rain had turned the

trails into mud. In the first 20 miles, the

rider changed horses three times!



10

Soon the trail got even worse. It was

steep and slippery. Rain kept falling. The

horse slipped several times.

Then the rain turned to sleet. The next

time the horse slipped, it fell. The rider was

thrown to the ground. However, he got up

and made it to the next station. There he

got a fresh horse.



11

The rider covered 60 miles in the rain

and sleet before another rider took over.

As that rider crossed the Sierra Nevada

Mountains, he had to make his way

through huge snowdrifts. The route was

steep. Slowly, the horse and rider inched

ahead against the harsh wind.



12

The third rider had to ride through the

desert. The weather was hot, and he was

thirsty. The horse kicked up sand as it ran

east toward Missouri.

The rider waved his hat as he sped past a

wagon train. The people on the wagon train

looked on in wonder. Who was that rider?He seemed to have come from nowhere!



13

The last rider ended the trip in St.

Joseph, Missouri. A doctor there got the

letter that day. Quickly, he counted out

pills for Mr. Bede and put them in a box.

He gave the box to the Pony Express rider

who was heading back west. “Take care!”

the doctor told him. “That medicine may

save a rancher’s life!”

“You bet, Doctor,” the rider said as hetipped his hat.



14

Back at the Bede ranch, the family

waited. Mr. Bede was feeling sicker and

sicker. He stayed in bed. But the work of theranch had to go on just the same.

Animals still had to be fed. Stray cows

still had to be put in the corral. Martha and

her sisters spent their time tending the herd.

It was hard to work when they were soworried about their father. When would the

Pony Express come?



15

The Pony Express riders were heading

west toward California as fast as they

could. The first one handed off the mailbag

to the next with the medicine safe inside.

That rider raced across the windyNebraska prairie. The third rider carried the

mail through a snowstorm. The next rider

rode through sleet in Utah.

After a week, the Bedes got word that

the medicine was in town. The PonyExpress had come through!



16

Mrs. Bede raced to town and came back

with the precious box of medicine. She

raised her husband’s head and gave him a

tablet.

In a few days, Mr. Bede was feeling

better. Forever after, he would tell the story

of what happened. “Yes, indeed!” he would

say to all the ranchers. “I owe my life to

the Pony Express.”



1What is the problem in this story? How is it

solved?

2What is the main idea of this story?

3What details show that the riders’ journey

was difficult?

4Why do you think the Pony Express was

created?

5What other ways might people have

communicated long ago?

6Do you think you would have liked being a

Pony Express rider? Why or why not?

Mural As a class, draw a mural showing

the Pony Express journey. Show the different

landscapes a rider might pass through, as wellas the different types of weather he might see.

Think and Respond

School-Home Connection Share this story

with a family member. Then write and mail a

letter to someone you know.

pony express to the rescue

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