and hills around him; gullies, draws, barrancas, the levels, lava
beds, fantastic rock shapes--mocking his ignorance of the country. He
saw them all for an instant and then they were gone and
darkness--blacker than before--succeeded. It was as though a huge map
had suddenly been thrust before his eyes by some giant hand, an intense
light thrown upon it, and the light suddenly turned off. Immediately
there came a heavy crash as though the Storm-Kings, having marshalled
their forces, had thrown them together in one, great, clashing onrush.
And then, straight down, roaring and shrieking, came the deluge.

The wise little plains-pony halted, standing with drooping head,
awaiting the end of the first fierce onslaught. It lasted long and when
it had gone another silence, as ominous as the preceding one, followed.
The rain ceased entirely and the pony again stepped forward, making his
way slowly, for the trail was now slippery and hazardous. The baked
earth had become a slimy, sticky clay which clung tenaciously to the
pony's hoofs.

For another quarter of an hour the pony floundered through the mud,
around gigantic boulders, over slippery hummocks, across little gullies,
upon ridges and small hills and down into comparatively level stretches
of country. Hollis was beginning to think that he might escape a bad
wetting after all when the rain came again.

This time it seemed the Storm-Kings were in earnest. The rain came down
in torrents; Hollis could feel it striking against his tarpaulin in
long, stinging, vicious slants, and the lightning played and danced
along the ridges and into the gullies with continuing energy, the
thunder following, crashing in terrific volleys. It was uncomfortable,
to say the least, and the only consoling thought was that the deluge
would prove a God-send to the land and the cattle. Hollis began to wish
that he had remained in Dry Bottom for the night, but of course Dry
Bottom was not to be thought of now; he must devote all his energy to
reaching the ranch.

It was slow work for the pony. After riding for another quarter of an
hour Hollis saw, during another lightning flash, another of his
landmarks, and realized that in the last quarter of an hour he had
traveled a very short distance. The continuing flashes of lightning had
helped the pony forward, but presently the lightning ceased and a dense
blackness succeeded. The pony went forward at an uncertain pace; several
times it halted and faced