This proved at first a broad, plainly marked path, across the alkali plain.

He rode a mettlesome, half-broken bronco, a wicked-eyed brute, which required to be conquered twice within the first hour of travel; a second and more quiet animal trailed behind at the end of a lariat, bearing the necessary equipment.

Hampton forced the two into a rapid lope, striving to make the most possible out of the narrow margin of daylight remaining.
He had, by persistent questioning, acquired considerable information, during that busy hour spent in Cheyenne, regarding the untracked regions lying before him, as well as the character and disposition of the man he pursued.

Both by instinct and training he was able to comprehend those brief hints that must prove of vast benefit in the pathless wilderness.

But the time had not yet arrived for him to dwell on such matters.