It was a mere brook of a few feet wide, and two or three yards, perhaps, from bank to bank.

Over this they flew so easily that the spring was scarcely felt, and continued the headlong course.

And now a more barren country was around them.

Sandy ridges and scrubby grass appeared everywhere, reminding Dick of the place where he had been so ill.

Rocks, too, were scattered about, and at one place the horse dashed with clattering hoofs between a couple of rocky sand-hills which, for a few seconds, hid the prairie from view.