"I will if you think you can stand it."
Stella looked at him scornfully.
"I guess this beast will go the distance," she answered, giving the little gray a clip with her quirt, and galloping ahead of Ted, who was not slow to follow.
As they proceeded the ground became more and more broken.
"I believe there is a bit of 'bad land' over there," said Ted, pointing forward.
Still they saw no cattle, although Colonel Billings had told him that morning that his greatest herd, the one he wished the boys to examine with the view to purchase, lay in the big west pasture.
But all they could see so far was the broad stretch of green prairie and the low line of the rough land in the distance. Not a living thing was in sight.
The only movement was the flying shadows of the white clouds over the prairie, and the waving of the deep, rich grass when a vagrant breeze swept by.
But suddenly Ted pulled in his pony, and shaded his eyes with his hand, staring into the west.
"What is it?" asked Stella, reining in.