It's May 1860 in the Ruby Valley of Nevada.

14-year-old Billy Tate races across the sun-baked plains on the back of his horse.

The wind whips dust through his hair as he desperately

wills the beast on faster and faster. Billy is a mail carrier, but while most letters take

weeks or even months across the country, Billy rides for the Pony Express, which promises to

deliver mail from Missouri to California in just 10 days flat. So Billy is used to riding fast. Still

right now, speed may be the difference between life and death. Over the past few weeks,

fighting has broken out between the indigenous northern Paiute people and white settlers who

have encroached on their territory. The Pony Express route now takes its riders

through these contested lands, and Billy has just been spotted by a band of Paiute warriors

who are giving chase on horseback. Billy continues to urge his horse forward, but he can tell it's

tiring. He glances behind him. The Paiute are excellent riders, and on ground this flat, Billy realizes there's no hope about

running them.

So he has to try something else.

Yanking on the reins, he veers his horse toward an outrop of rocks.

Billy jumps down from his saddle, grabs his six-shooter from the mailbag.

Then he pushes his horse away from him, slapping him on the

rear. The riderless steed tears off across the plane as Billy retreats into the rocks. Taking cover,

Billy carefully loads his gun. We can hear the Paiute warriors closing in. He peers carefully

from behind a rock, takes careful aim, and fires.

There's a splash of blood, and one of his pursuers crashes from his horse.

Billy ducks back down behind the rock as a hail of arrows peppers the ground around him.

...