short
distance he declared he could go no farther, and climbed into the
cabin and rolled upon the bed.

Ollie and I ploughed along with the sand still streaming,
like long flaxen hair, off the wagon-wheels as they turned. In a
little valley about ten o'clock Ollie shot his first grouse. We
saw more antelope, and met a man with his wife and six children
and five dogs and two cows and twelve chickens going east. He
said he was tired of Nebraska, and was on his way to Illinois. At
noon we stopped at Merriman, another railroad station. Jack got
up and made a pretence of getting dinner, but he ate nothing
himself, and really began to look ill.

We made but a short stop, as we were anxious to get out of
the worst of the sand that afternoon. We asked about feed and
water for the horses, and were told that we could get both at
Irwin, another station fifteen miles ahead. We pressed on, with
Jack still in the wagon, but it was almost dark before we reached
the station. We found a man on the railroad track.

"Can we get some feed and water here?" I asked of him.

"Reckon not," answered the man.

"Where can we find the station agent?"

"He's gone up to Gordon, and won't be back till midnight."

"Hasn't any one got any horse-feed for sale?"

[Illustration: No Horse-Feed]

"There isn't a smell of horse-feed here," said the man. "I've
got the only well, except the railroad's, but it's 'most dry.
I'll give you what water I can, though. As for feed, you'd better
go on three miles to Keith's ranch. It's on Lost Creek Flat, and
there's lots of haystacks there, and you can help yourself. At
the ranch-house they will give you other things."

We drove over to the man's house, and got half a pail of
water apiece for the horses. They wanted more, but there was no
more in the well. The man said we could get everything we wanted
at the ranch, and we started on. The horses were tired, but even
Old Blacky was quite amiable, and trudged along in the sand
without complaint.

Jack was still in the wagon, and we heard nothing of him. It
was cloudy and very dark. But the horses kept in the trail, and
after, as it seemed to us, we had gone five miles, we felt
ourselves on firmer ground. Soon we thought we could make out
something, perhaps hay-stacks, through the darkness. I sent Ollie
on the pony to see what it was. He rode away, and in a moment I
heard a great snorting and a stamping of feet, and Ollie's voice
cal