14

Long before the sun had risen,
While the night mist's ghostly veil
Hid from view the sloughs and hollows,
Billy took the northern trail.
Through the sunflowers in the low land,
Plodding over sandstone knolls,
Winding through the level stretches
Dotted thick with treacherous holes
Where the prairie dogs sat chattering,
Bolt upright upon their mounds,
While the ground owls sought their burrows,
Startled by the warning sounds;
Stumbling into buffalo wallows,
Dug out in an earlier day
By the halting herds that rested,
Rolled and bellowed in their play.


15

Now and then the sheltered hillside
Waved its varicolored flowers
As a greeting to the trav'ler,
Solace to the toilsome hours.
Old Jack Rabbit hopped before him,
Then sat up, to watch him pass,