The riders of course used spurs though they were not often necessary. The animal knew what was expected of him and gave it willingly. Covered with foam and dust, with his sides heaving, he thundered up to the station where rest was awaiting him, after which he was ready to bound away on the wings of the wind again. Often his master passed through the most frightful perils without shouting a command to his pony. A pressure of the knee, the gentlest pull on the rein, or perhaps a soft exclamation was enough: he obeyed with unerring instinct. As Dick Lightfoot declared, the animals came to know the routes better than their riders. When Theodore Rand covered the 110 miles between Box Elder and Julesburg, he always did it by night.