The sun, reflected upward, pierced their bodies, and parched them with thirst.

They breathed a hot atmosphere filled with gypsum dust, that by the trampling of the buffalo herd had been reduced to an impalpable powder, and floated about suspended in the air.

This added to the agony of their thirst; and it was difficult for them to tell whether they suffered most from the want of food, or the want of water! How far might this singular tract extend?
They could form no conjecture as to the distance.

Lucien had heard that such formations sometimes stretched for many miles.

If so, they might never be able to cross it-- thirsty and exhausted as both they and the animals were--for, eager to come up with the buffalo, they had rested but very little during the previous days.