The Boy from the West - Gilbert Patten

Not a sound came from the boy's lips; but he ran) forward at a loping gait that seemed dreadfully slow, but was really very deceptive, and crossed the track in front of the express. He was barely in time to grasp the horse by the bit, and then came a most astonishing display of strength and skill, for he stopped the animal within a space less than twelve feet. As it was, he had not another foot to spare for, as he set the creature back on its haunches and whirled it aside, the first car of the ying train brushed his shoul der and he was enveloped in a whirlwind of dust and sand. With a grip of iron, the strange lad held the horse steady until the last car ashed along, and then, when the danger was past, he calmly drawled.