A number of panthers and giant gray wolves beyond counting kept the hunters always excited.

The wild abundance of an unexhausted Nature offered at every hand.

The sufficiency of life brought daily growth in the self-reliance which had left them for a time.
The wide timberlands, the broken low hills of the green prairie at length began to give place to a steadily rising inclined plane.

The soil became less black and heavy, with more sandy ridges.

The oak and hickory, stout trees of their forefathers, passed, and the cottonwoods appeared.