Dusky horned-toads scurried nimbly
Through the withered buffalo grass.
Here and there the buzzing rattler
Whirred a warning, head alert,
Then retreated from the snapping,
Stinging strokes of Billy's quirt.
Day by day the wild breeze flying,
With'ring in its scorching heat,
Hummed a tune to labored beating
Of the plodding horses' feet.


16

Day by day this panorama
Passing slowly, dully by,
With the sun's brass disc high gleaming
From a white and cloudless sky,
Sometimes drew fantastic pictures.
Many a strange and gruesome sign--
Phantom trees and fairy castles--
Blurred the far horizon line.
Then they'd vanish like the fancies
Of a fever-smitten brain,
And returning, changed in outline,
Elsewhere on the mighty plain
Would allure the eyesore trav'ler
Till the very sky above
Seemed to mock with vague mirages
Every surety of love.