In this place Slone halted for
the noon hour, letting Nagger have his fill of the rich grazing. Nagger's
three days in grassy upland, despite the continuous travel by day, had
improved him. He looked fat, and Slone had not yet caught the horse resting.
Nagger was iron to endure. Here Slone left all the outfit except what was on
his saddle, and the sack containing the few pounds of meat and supplies, and
the two utensils. This sack he tied on the back of his saddle, and resumed his
journey.
Presently he came to a place where Wildfire had doubled on his trail and had
turned up a side canyon. The climb out was hard on Slone, if not on Nagger.
Once up, Slone found himself upon a wide, barren plateau of glaring red rock
and clumps of greasewood and cactus. The plateau was miles wide, shut in by
great walls and mesas of colored rock. The afternoon sun beat down fiercely. A
blast of wind, as if from a furnace, swept across the plateau, and it was
laden with red dust. Slone walked here, where he could have ridden. And he
made several miles of up-and-down progress over this rough plateau.
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