220 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



most people; and when it comes to playing, they 

 do this regularly and often the year round. 



Originally, this round world of ours was solid 

 rock. Frost, chemical action, the wear and 

 tear of wind and water caused the outside to 

 decay. In many localities the soil covering of 

 the earth is not more than a foot thick; areas in 

 valleys and lowlands may be many feet, even 

 hundreds of feet thick, but in most localities a 

 boy with pick and shovel can, in a day, dig 

 down to solid rock. And in mountainous regions 

 the bony rocks of the earth are without any soil 

 covering. 



In dry regions of the West it is generally neces- 

 sary to go down from fifty to a few hundred feet, 

 mostly through rock, before water is struck be- 

 tween rock layers. Yet every once in a while we 

 hear the story that the prairie dog digs down 

 to water. Some digger! Of course, having so 

 much room in these long, deep holes, something 

 must be done with the room. Commonly a 

 part of the same story says that prairie owls and 

 rattlesnakes, which are fond of fat dog, live in the 

 holes with the dogs. Prairie dogs, with their 

 large towns and villages, live in a way that is 

 full of interest, and among their interesting 

 activities is that of keeping water and snakes 

 beyond the city limits. 



Prairie dogs, antelope, birds, and, in fact, 



