Crossing the Great Plains 37 



eventful and he had seen so little of the 

 world that even now it seemed more like a 

 strange dream than a stirring reality, and it 

 would not have much astonished Bennie to 

 have suddenly awakened to the fact that 

 he was back in his bed in the loft of the 

 log-cabin in Indiana. 



It had been a very late, cold spring, 

 with raw winds and drizzling rains, but at 

 last Chinnook had come out of the south 

 and breathed over the prairies and all had 

 been changed as by magic. 



The birds began singing as though they 

 would split their throats, and through the 

 waiting earth went that instantaneous 

 thrill, seen in a few hours, in springing grass 

 and opening buds, and in the gracious 

 warmth of the sun. The coming of Chin- 

 nook had been agreed upon as the signal 

 for the start, so the following day every- 

 thing had been made ready. Mr. Ander- 

 derson had cracked the whip over the backs 



