15

Now and then the sheltered hillside
Waved its varicolored flowers
As a greeting to the trav'ler,
Solace to the toilsome hours.
Old Jack Rabbit hopped before him,
Then sat up, to watch him pass,
Dusky horned-toads scurried nimbly
Through the withered buffalo grass.
Here and there the buzzing rattler
Whirred a warning, head alert,
Then retreated from the snapping,
Stinging strokes of Billy's quirt.
Day by day the wild breeze flying,
With'ring in its scorching heat,
Hummed a tune to labored beating
Of the plodding horses' feet.

16

Day by day this panorama
Passing slowly, dully by,
With the sun's brass disc high gleaming
From a white and cloudless sky,
Sometimes drew fantastic pictures.
Many a strange and gruesome sign--
Phantom trees and fairy castles--
Blurred the far horizon line.
Then they'd vanish like the fancies
Of a fever-smitten brain,
And returning, changed in outline,
Elsewhere on the mighty plain
Would allure the eyesore trav'ler
Till the very sky above
Seemed to mock with vague mirages
Every surety of love.

17

When each weary day was over,
Halting near some watering-place,
Bill unpacked his meager outfit,
Turned the horses loose to graze,
Baked his varicolored dough-bread,
On a fire of cattle chips;
Coffee made of green-scummed water,
Nectar to his thirsty lips.
On the ground he spread his blanket
And reclining there alone,
Heard the swiftly sweeping breezes
Sing in dreary monotone
Strange wild anthems, weird and lonesome,
Like lost spirits floating by,
While afar in broken measure
Swelled the coyotes' yelping cry.

18

All the varied information
Gathered from the few he passed--
Some from herders, some from stragglers
Gave the missing clew at last
As to where old Mac was heading;
For that telltale band of steel
Stamped along the endless roadway
Printed by the turning wheel,
Pressed its image on the memory
Of the settlers coming back,
Who, when questioned by the searcher,
Told him that the telltale track
Had begun to veer to westward
After crossing by the way
Leading up the North Platte River,
Where the sand wastes stretch away.

19

As he crossed this barren prairie's
Sweeping waste of poverty,
Billy paused beside the cripple
Of a wind-torn twisted tree,
Standing there, marooned forever,
Where its hapless seed had blown,
Miles on miles from forest neighbor,
Struggling out its