and down with my legs very stiff. This 

 always amused her greatly, and it suc- 

 ceeded this time. She laughed and ran 

 after me, trying to catch me, but I 

 dodged first one way and then the other, 

 just allowing her fingers to touch me, 

 then slipping away from her, but all the 

 time going further out on the prairie. 

 At last Polly grew tired and stopped to 

 look around her. She gave a little gur- 

 gling cry of terror that brought me to 

 her side at once. 



"Oh, Lopez !" she cried, "Lopez, I 

 don't know the way home. It all looks 

 alike, and I have forgotten which way 

 we came." She clasped her arms around 

 my neck and cried bitterly. 



"Oh, Lopez !" she wailed, "don't you 

 know the way home? You know, ani- 

 mals are smarter about such things than 

 little girls." 



I did know the way perfectly well, and 

 Polly's grief hurt me so that I was 

 strongly tempted to lead her straight 

 back to the ranch ; but I reasoned that 

 it had cost me considerable effort to get 

 her this far, and why should I now turn 

 back? Besides, to me, there was no rea- 

 son why Polly should not be perfectly 

 happy in this new and free life, when 

 she should become accustomed to it. 

 And why should she not adapt herself to 

 my mode of life as easily as I had myself 

 to hers? 



Reasoning thus. I deliberately started 

 in the opposite direction to the ranch, 

 walking slowly, with Polly by my side. 



Thus we wandered on for perhaps an 

 hour, then I stopped to graze, and Polly 

 sank down on the grass to rest. But 

 soon she sprang up, saying : "This won't 

 do, Lopez; we must go on and try to 

 find home. Just see how low the sun 

 is." And then she began to cry. 



We had started out early in the after- 

 noon, and the warm sunshine made the 

 air very comfortable. Now the sun 

 hung, a great red ball, just above the 

 dark line that marked the union of sky 

 and plain, and the chill of evening was 

 fast 'coming on. We wandered on, ap- 

 parently the only living creatures on this 

 vast plain — on and on, until the last ray 

 of sunlight had been swallowed up by 

 the dusk of evening. The sky was 

 thickly dotted with glittering, twinkling 



stars, and still we wandered on. A band 

 of white appeared just above the east- 

 ern horizon, quickly followed by the 

 moon, which filled the lonely plain with 

 the softened glory of its light, and still 

 we wandered on. 



After what seemed to me a very long 

 time, Polly sank down by a bunch of tall 

 grass, and I lay down close by her side. 

 She slipped her hand through my col- 

 lar and soon fell asleep. As the night 

 grew colder, Polly nestled closer to me, 

 and as we had a thick bed of dry grass 

 we were tolerably warm. 



Polly slept quietly, and now I, too, 

 fell asleep, and was only awakened by 

 the broad light of day. 



I got up and went to grazing near 

 where Polly was lying still asleep. Soon 

 I saw a wolf go from the carcass of a 

 dead cow to a pool of water and drink. 

 Being quite thirsty, as soon as the wolf 

 had gone away I went to the pool myself 

 and drank. Then^ thinking Polly might 

 be thirsty, too, I went back to her and 

 rubbed my nose against her face to wake 

 her. She sat up and looked around her 

 in a dazed sort of way for a few min- 

 utes, then stood up and strained her 

 eyes, first in one direction and then in 

 another. At last she turned to me, and 

 I could see that her lips were quivering. 



"Lopez, I think there is water where 

 those small trees are growing; anyway, 

 we will go and see." 



When we reached the pool Polly knelt 

 down and drank, and then gathered and 

 ate several handfuls of red haws from 

 the scrubby little trees that grew around 

 the pool. We then started on, walking as 

 fast as Polly could. 



We had gone on for perhaps two 

 hours, when I insisted upon stopping to 

 eat some more grass. Polly pulled at my 

 collar. "Oh, Lopez, come on," she said, 

 a little crossly. "If I can do without 

 something to eat, surely you can, too." 

 But I would not go, and she sat down 

 in the grass to wait for me. 



When we started on again I noticed 

 that Polly was shivering. The sun had 

 disappeared behind a misty veil of clouds 

 and it was much colder than it had been 

 in the early morning. Later in the day 

 we came to a deep ravine. A few pecan 

 trees grew along its banks, and here 



