stream. No game was to be found here, but there were wild grapes and plums growing in abundance. With these and some sugar he made a meal, though not a good one, for the berries were quite green and intensely sour.
All that day Dick Varley followed up the trail of his companions, which he discovered at a ford in the river. They had crossed, therefore, in safety, though still pursued; so he ran on at a regular trot, and with a little more hope than he had felt during the day. Towards night, however, Dick’s heart sank again, for he came upon innumerable buffalo tracts, among which those of the horses soon became mingled up, so that he lost them altogether. Hoping to find them more easily by daylight, he went to the nearest clump of willows he could find, and encamped for the night.
Remembering the use formerly made of the tall willows, he set to work to construct a covering to protect him from, the dew. As he had no blanket or buffalo skin, he used leaves and grass instead, and found it a better shelter than he had expected, especially when the fire was lighted, and a pannikin of hot sugar and water smoked at his feet; but as no game was to be found, he was again compelled to sup off unripe berries. Before lying down to rest he remembered his resolution, and pulling out the little Bible, read a portion of it by the fitful blaze of the fire, and felt great comfort in its blessed words. It seemed to him like a friend with whom he could converse in his loneliness.
Next morning Dick rose with the sun, and started without breakfast, preferring to take his chance of finding a bird or animal of some kind before long to feeding again on sour berries. He was disappointed, however, in finding the tracks of his companions. The ground here was hard and sandy, so that little or no impression of a distinct kind was made on it; and as buffaloes had traversed it in all directions, he was soon utterly bewildered. He thought it possible that, by running out in a straight line, and then taking a wide circuit, he might find the tracks emerging from the confusion made by the buffaloes. But he was disappointed, for the buffalo tracts continued, and the ground became less capable of showing a footprint.
Soon Dick began to feel so ill and weak from eating such poor fare that he gave up all hope of discovering the tracks, and was compelled to push forward at his utmost speed in order to reach a less barren district, where he might procure fresh meat; but the farther he advanced the worse
