Gradually shaking down into better organization, we fared on and on day after day, until the grass grew shorter and the hills flatter.

At last we approached the valley of the Platte.
We were coming now indeed into the great Plains, of which I had heard all my youth.

A new atmosphere seemed to invest the world.

The talk of my companions was of things new and wild and strange to me.

All my old life seemed to be slipping back of me, into a far oblivion.