t's more than
likely there's water there, and now that I've got a gun, I've some
chance of shooting something; and that reminds me of poor Corporal
Hugg's warning, always to reload my gun the first thing after firing
it."

He had enough sense to carry out this resolution on the spot, and then
he resumed his journey in the direction of the object that had attracted
his attention. A short distance further he was pleased to find his first
impression correct. He was approaching a clump of trees where he could
rest with a much greater sense of security than upon the open prairie.
Thoroughly weary and worn out, faint with hunger, he felt like throwing
himself upon the ground and sleeping for a week. But, continuing, he
entered a grove of trees something like a hundred yards in extent,
through which, in the stillness of the night, he caught distinctly the
ripple of flowing water. It required but a moment to discover this and
he lay down upon the margin, quaffed his full and flung himself upon the
grass to sleep until morning. Five minutes after his eyes were shut he
was wrapped in a sound slumber which remained undisturbed until morning
when, as he opened his eyes, he found the sun shining through the
branches upon him.

"Gracious!" he exclaimed, starting up. "Where am I?"

It took several minutes before he could collect his senses and tell
where he was; and then as he recalled the separation from his friends,
he hurried out to the edge of the wood in the hope of discovering them
somewhere near at hand; but, look in whatsoever direction he chose,
nothing was to be seen but the broad sweeping prairie, stretching away
until sky and earth joined in the distance. Far off, low down in the
horizon, the blue wavy outline of a mountain spur was to be seen. Miles
and miles away, it would probably require days of traveling before it
could be reached.

"That's strange!" murmured Ned, as a feeling of alarm began stealing
over him. "Where can Tom and Dick be? They must be somewhere in this
neighborhood, and yet I cannot see any signs of them."

He moved around the grove, carefully gazing in every direction; but
after making the complete circuit he came back without having detected
anything that told him what had become of his friends.

The grove in which he had taken shelter abounded with undergrowth, so
dense in many places, that he made his way with considerable difficulty.
He had no thought of any one else being in the same place