in sight. Nothing could be seen
but the green treeless plain, stretching on all sides as if to the very
sky. Only one object could be observed that gave a variety to the
aspect around. This was an eminence that rose over the sea-like surface
of the prairie--called in the language of the hunters, a "butte." It
appeared ten miles distant, at least; and seemed to stand alone, its
steep sides rising like cliffs above the prairie level. It lay in the
course they had hitherto been travelling.

"Shall we make for it?" asked they of one another.

"What better can we do?" said Basil. "We are as likely to meet the
buffalo in that direction as in any other. We have no guide now; so we
must trust to our good fortune to lead us to them, or them to us--which
is about the same thing, I fancy."

"Oh! let us `catch up,'" advised Francois, "and ride for the butte. We
may find buffalo near it."

"But what if we find no water?" suggested the ever-prudent Lucien.

"That is not likely," returned Francois. "I'll warrant there's water--
there generally is where there are mountains, I believe; and yonder
butte might almost be called a mountain. I'll warrant there's water."

"If there's not," added Basil, "we can return here."

"But, brothers," said Lucien, "you know not the distance of that
eminence."

"Ten miles, I should think," said Basil.

"Not more, certainly," added Francois.

"It is thirty, if an inch," quietly remarked Lucien.

"Thirty!" exclaimed the others; "thirty miles! You are jesting, are you
not? Why, I could almost lay my hand upon it!"

"That is a misconception of yours," rejoined the philosopher. "You are
both calculating distances, as you would in the low dense atmosphere of
Louisiana. Remember you are now four thousand feet above the level of
the sea, and surrounded by one of the purest and most translucent
atmospheres in the world. Objects can be seen double the distance that
you could see them on the banks of the Mississippi. That butte, which
you think is only ten miles off, appears to me fifteen, or rather more;
and I therefore calculate that it is at least thirty miles distant from
the spot where we now are."

"Impossible!" exclaimed Basil, eyeing the butte. "Why, I can see the
seams of the rocks on its sides, and trees, I fancy, growing upon its
top."

"Well," continued Lucien, "with all that you'll find I am not far from
the mark. But let us strike for it, since you wish it. We shal