'll pay fer it! _That's_ who he is!"

The first day's travel across the dry stretch, notwithstanding the start
had been later than was hoped for, rolled off more than twenty miles of
the flat, monotonous plain. Even here the grama grass was not entirely
missing, and a nooning of two hours was taken to let the animals crop as
much of it as they could find. While the caravan was now getting onto
the fringe of the Kiowa and Comanche country, trouble with these tribes,
at this time of the year, was not expected until the Cimarron was
reached and for this reason the urging for mileage was allowed to keep
the wagons moving until dark. During the night the wagoners arose
several times to change the picket stakes of their animals, hoping by
this and by lengthened ropes to make up for the scantiness of the grass.
In one other way was the sparsity of the grazing partly made up, for the
grama grass was a concentrated food, its small seed capsules reputed to
contain a nourishment approaching that of oats of the same size.

The heat of the day had been oppressive and the contents of the water
casks were showing the effects of it. The feather-headed or stubborn
know-it-alls who had ignored the call of "water scrape" back on the bank
of the Arkansas now were humble pilgrims begging for drinks from their
more provident companions. Tom and Hank had filled their ten-gallon
casks and put them in Joe Cooper's wagons for the use of his and their
animals which, being mules, found a dry journey less trying than the
heavy-footed oxen of other teams. The mules also showed an ability far
beyond their horned draft fellows in picking up sufficient food; they
also were free from the foot troubles which now began to be shown by the
oxen. The triumphant wagoners of the muddier portions of the trail,
whose oxen had caused them to exult by the way they had out-pulled the
mules in every mire, now became thoughtful and lost their levity.

Breakfast was cooked and eaten before daylight and the wagons were
strung out in the four column formation before dawn streaked the sky. A
few buffalo wallows, half full of water from the recent rains, relieved
the situation, and the thirsty animals emptied their slightly alkaline
contents to the last obtainable drop. This second day found the plain
more barren, more desolate, its flat floor apparently interminable, and
the second night camp was not made until after dark, the wagons
corralling by the aid of candle lant