By Gina Harris
Copyright 1999
Jimmy spurred his horse on, constantly looking back over his shoulder to see if the posse was still on his trail. He had been riding hard for three days, and wondered if his horse would survive another day at this pace. He was scared...more than ever before. He knew that he had made the biggest mistake of his life and wondered if there would be a way out of this mess. He had made wrong choices and followed some good for nothing guys before, but this time he almost lost his life because of his bad choice.
James Hickok had befriended the wrong bunch of scalawags and outlaws on his last trip to Horse Creek. He was short of money and these four fellows offered him a hundred dollars for what they called "a quick errand." Jimmy, keeping true to form, had little to say to them and asked few questions. All he could think of was gettin money fast.......and a lot of it!!
These fellows told Jimmy to meet them behind the saloon at sunset. Jimmy did as he was told and walked into the middle of what appeared to be some sort of robbery and kidnapping with a possible murder mixed in. There was a city-slick looking fellow lying in a pool of blood by the back door. One of the men was tying the hands of a rich looking woman while the other guy was stiffling her screams with his hand. By the time Jimmy woke up to the fact that he had put himself in a very bad situation, it was too late to get away from the scene. Shots were fired between the guys who hired him and the local lawmen....heck, they were firing at Jimmy. He hopped on the first horse he saw, as he dodged the hail of bullets, and took off. He had not stopped running since then.
After these three days of hard riding, Jimmy found himself farther west than he had traveled before, in a town called Sweetwater. He saw no sign of the posse, and figured they had lost his trail in that rain storm coming through Willow Canyon. He wasn't sure if any of the lawmen even knew his name or whether they knew of his innocence. He figured they were out for blood and he didn't plan to give them his. They showed no sign of asking him any questions about whether or not he had a part in all of this. Besides, he couldn't say much if they had shot him dead!
Jimmy was tired, scared and starving. He stopped at the town cafe and went for a hot meal. He overheard two guys talking and saw that one appeared to be close to his age. One of them was called "Kid" and kept referring to the other man as some kind of "spoon." The man was telling Kid about the new mail service called the Pony Express. They were hiring riders and kept them constantly on the move carrying mail across the country. That sounded good to Jimmy, because he did not want to be in any one spot for long, but he also liked the idea of having food, a place to sleep, and some money in his pocket.
Jimmy had gotten rid of the stolen horse, so he had no horse of his own.....except the one he had to leave behind in Horse Creek. No way was he going back to get him. He ate a quick meal, gave the cafe the last of his coins and sought out the place to sign up with this Pony Express. The man signing him on asked nothing about where Jimmy had come from or what he had been doing.....Jimmy kept silent except to answer the man's questions about the job requirements.
Jimmy was asked to say the official Pony Express oath. "I, James Butler Hickok, do hereby swear, before the great and living God, that during my engagement, and while I am an employee of Russell, Majors, and Waddell, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight with any other employee of the firm, and that in every respect I will conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties, and so direct all my acts as to win the confidence of my employers. So help me God."
Jimmy was given a Bible and some advance pay. He figured it would be good for him to learn to read so that he could let that Bible try to have a good influence on his rotten life......and just maybe, he might have a chance to start over in the right direction this time......as long as a lawman's bullet didn't have his name on it.
