ll that would have done credit to the fiercest chief of
the Pawnees, and, being unable to utter another word, he swung his cap
in the air and sprang like an arrow from a bow over the mighty ocean of
grass. The sun had just risen to send a flood of golden glory over the
scene; the horses were fresh, so the elder hunters, gladdened by the
beauty of all around them, and inspired by the irresistible enthusiasm
of their young companion, gave the reins to the horses and flew after
him. It was a glorious gallop, that first headlong dash over the
boundless prairie of the "far west!"

The prairies have often been compared, most justly, to the ocean. There
is the same wide circle of space bounded on all sides by the horizon;
there is the same swell, or undulation, or succession of long low
unbroken waves that marks the ocean when it is calm; they are canopied
by the same pure sky, and swept by the same untrammelled breezes. There
are islands, too--clumps of trees and willow-bushes,--which rise out of
this grassy ocean to break and relieve its uniformity; and these vary in
size and numbers as do the isles of ocean--being numerous in some
places, while in others they are so scarce that the traveller does not
meet one in a long day's journey. Thousands of beautiful flowers decked
the green sward, and numbers of little birds hopped about among them.

"Now, lads," said Joe Blunt, reining up, "our troubles begin to-day."

"Our troubles! our joys, you mean!" exclaimed Dick Varley.

"P'raps I don't mean nothin' o' the sort," retorted Joe. "Man wos never
intended to swaller his joys without a strong mixtur' o' troubles. I
s'pose he couldn't stand 'em pure. Ye see we've got to the prairie
now--"

"One blind hoss might see dat!" interrupted Henri.

"An' we may or may not diskiver buffalo. An' water's scarce, too, so
we'll need to look out for it pretty sharp, I guess, else we'll lose our
horses, in which case we may as well give out at once. Besides, there's
rattlesnakes about in sandy places--we'll ha' to look out for them; an'
there's badger holes--we'll need to look sharp for them lest the horses
put their feet in 'em; an' there's Injuns, who'll look out pretty sharp
for _us_ if they once get wind that we're in them parts."

"Oui, yis, mes boys, and there's rain, and tunder, and lightin'," added
Henri, pointing to a dark cloud which was seen rising on the horizon
ahead of them.

"It'll be rain," remarked Joe, "but there