halt, they again moved on, pausing occasionally to refresh themselves,
until towards sunset, when the ground became more even and the soil
more sandy. Here they noticed the vegetation was becoming more sparse,
what trees there were having a stunted and gnarled appearance; after a
long search they found a spring of pure water, by which they encamped
for the night, being now relieved from the fear of an attack; for, had
they been ever so well mounted they could not have made a greater
distance than they had, and having the advantage of a start of their
pursuers they calculated on a certain escape. They were unmolested
through the night; and early in the morning they again set forth. At
noon where they halted the face of the country was much as it was when
they set out in the morning; but, after a rapid ride in the afternoon,
the vegetation entirely disappeared except the rank grass, leaving a
broad prairie before them. Here they paused, resolving to rest
themselves before they proceeded farther.

Alas! had they only known which way to proceed,--what direction would
lead them to their home and friends, it would have been well with them.
But they had pursued so many different directions they had become
bewildered, and all courses seemed to them alike. The next and the next
day passed over and found them undecided whether it was best to cross
over the prairie or not; but the third day they concluded to do so, and
refreshed and invigorated they set out. Two days of their journey they
found occasional supplies of water, and on the third towards noon they
came to its boundary. The forest skirting the border of the prairie was
a clump of stunted trees, and there was very little grass or shrubs
growing around. Everything looked forlorn and desolate about them,
offering but scanty subsistence for themselves or beasts.

Following the forest down a short distance they found a tolerable
camping ground where they spent the night. The next day on riding
through the forest about three miles they found that it terminated,
leaving a field of sand without a blade of grass or shrub growing upon
it. It was nothing but sand, drear and desolate as far as the eye could
reach. They were stupefied, and gazed sadly on the barren waste before
them.

"This," at last said the trapper, "is the desert of which we have heard
by vague rumors and traditions, but of which, until now, I never
believed existed. We have undoubtedly made our way on the oppos