SKETCH EDITION with Black and White illustrations. View the art as it appeared over 100 years ago. Flesch-Kincaid Reading Grade Level is 3.9 suitable for 9 to 12. This edition is the abbreviated 4,000 word edition. An edition for 9 to adult is available with 17.600 words. This is the sixth book in the illustrated historical series, The Wurtherington Diary. This is a stand-a-lone story and is part one of the real-life adventures of Tammy and Buffalo Bill Cody. Of course she is in good company with Alfred the mouse, Zeke the orphaned opossum, Cedric, the mischievous mongoose, and Polly, the good-hearted bird. This part of Tammy's diary takes place 1855-1861 during the days of the Pony Express. As with all the Wurtherington Diary books, this one abounds in developing worthwhile feelings for its young readers. Things like honesty, compassion, and respect for others abound on very page. In this adventure, Tammy is called upon to save the American Indians from extinction. The space-time continuum has been disrupted once again and it appears that the Pony Express had not formed properly. In that this had an effect upon the extinction of the American Indians, Tammy must go to Lexington, Missouri in 1855 to see that Mr. Majors meets other transportation moguls, Russell and Waddell. Tammy and her little friends save poor Mr. Majors from certain death during a stagecoach robbery and send him on his way to form Russell, Majors, and Waddell. Then Tammy and her critters set out for St. Francis, Kansas just in time to become a part of the first Pony Express ride. She meets fourteen-year-old, Bill F. Cody who is one of the famous Pony Express riders. Tammy is rejected as a rider; (she is a girl) however Zeke the opossum is accepted and rides along with Cody. Wild Indians and renegades control the route. Soon Cody, Tammy, and Zeke must save an all-out Indian war from breaking out when one of the relay stations is burned down and the station master is killed. Tammy and Cody work together with Standing Buffalo to clear him of the charges of the massacre. However; this is not an easy task as they fight off Indian attacks and dirty double-dealings going on with Wolf Pack, buffalo hunter, and Brady Campbell, Indian Agent. Exactly what are they up to? Later in the tale we find that Tammy and her little friends must solve the mystery of the missing Kakuna Indians that disappeared in a violent space-time wave. Not an easy task for most of us; however Tammy and her cuddly friends are determined to get the bottom of it. Plan to enjoy these wonderful heartfelt characters in a breathless historical adventure for young and old.