322 CROSSING THE PRAIRIE. 



liveliest attention. Thus we went on our way without 

 fatigue. 



The Mexican had restored to me my horse, who was 

 now, he declared, perfectly disciplined, and I was comfort- 

 ably installed upon his back. It needed, however, all 

 these circumstances to render the journey endurable ; for 

 we quitted the broken country through which we had 

 been travelling since our departure, to enter upon a vast, 

 bare, and sterile plain, devoid of everything attractive to 



"WE WENDED OUR DREARY WAY ACROSS THE WASTE." 



the eye. The monotony of the landscape was unrelieved 

 by hills, trees, or even a simple bush. 



We wended our dreary way across the waste for about 

 three days. 



At length, on the evening of the third, when we were 

 beginning to find the spectacle immeasurably fatiguing, 

 we discovered a huge mass outlined against the horizon, 

 like a group of sombre clouds. It was the lofty range of 

 the summits of San Saba. 



At this sight, our little fat man, whom the dreary 



