ization was
betimes broken by the hoarser, roaring note of the great gray buffalo
wolf. At morn they awoke to an air surcharged with some keen elixir
which gave delight in sense of living. The subtle fragrance of the
plains, born of no fruit or flower, but begotten of the sheer
cleanliness of the thrice-pure air, came to their nostrils as they
actually snuffed the day. So came the sun himself, with heralds of
pink and royal purple, with banners of flaming red and gold. At this
the coyotes saluted yet more shrilly and generally. The lone gray
wolf, sentinel on some neighbouring ridge, looked down, contemptuous in
his wisdom. Perhaps a band of antelope tarried at some crest. Afar
upon the morning air came the melodious trumpeting of wild fowl, rising
from some far-off unknown roosting place and setting forth upon errand
of their own. All around lay a new world, a wild world, a virgin
sphere not yet acquaint with man. Phoenicians of the earthy seas,
these travellers daily fared on into regions absolutely new.

Early upon the morning of the fourth day of their journey the
travellers noted that the plain began to rise and sink in longer waves.
Presently they found themselves approaching a series of rude and
wild-looking hills of sand, among which they wound deviously as they
might, confronted often by forbidding buttes and lofty dunes whose only
sign of vegetation was displayed in a ragged fringe of grass which
waved like a scalp lock here and there upon the summits. For many
miles they travelled through this difficult and cheerless region, the
horses soon showing signs of distress and all the party feeling need of
water, of which the supply had been exhausted. It was nearly noon
while they were still involved in this perplexing region, and as none
of the party had ever seen the country before, none could tell how long
it might be before they would emerge from it. They pushed on in
silence, intent upon what might be ahead, so that when there came an
exclamation from the half-witted Mexican, whose stolid silence under
most circumstances had become a proverb among them, each face was at
once turned toward him.

"Eh, what's that, Juan?" said Curly--"Say, boys, he says we're about
out of the sand hills. Prairie pretty soon now, he says."

"And will ye tell me, now," said Battersleigh, "how the haythen knows a
bit more of it than we oursilves? He's never been here before. I'm
thinkin' it's pure guess he's givin'