When Jimmy at length stopped running, he found that he had left the
ravine quite out of sight. The country about him was rolling, and as the
wind waved the tall grass before his eyes, it was as if he were looking
upon a great gray-green sea, and the ravine doubtless lay between the
billow-like swells of land that spread out in vast expanse before him.
He looked about him and became more and more bewildered. He could not
determine which course he ought to take in order to reach the ranch
described to him by Mr. Highton.
It never occurred to him that this great cattle ranch, where he was to
get "big wages" and have "lots of fun," had no existence, save in his
"friend's" imagination.
Then again he fell to wondering where Mr. Highton could be. He could not
bring himself to believe that a man--a grown man--had been so frightened
by the lion that he had run away and left him--a boy--to take his
chances, unarmed and alone!
And yet the last he knew of Mr. Highton, he was lying near him, with his
saddle and bridle beneath his head, apparently sleeping and settled for
the night.
And now Jimmy recalled the fact that, when he was awakened that morning
and had looked about him, there was no saddle or other accoutrements to
be seen, and the natural conclusion was that Mr. Highton had ridden
deliberately away. It might be that he had gone upon some exploring
expedition of his own and knew nothing of the lion--that he meant to
return.
But Jimmy found little comfort in these reflections, and he began to
wish most heartily that he was safely back in his own comfortable home.
Then his thoughts took a different direction. He wondered what Lottie
and Eva would say, if they knew of the fate which had befallen poor
Cottontail, their pet and favorite! And what would Lottie think when she
discovered that he had abstracted papers from his father's desk? She had
always guarded the contents of the desk so jealously, that nothing
should be destroyed or mislaid that had been placed there by her parents
for safe keeping.
His conduct had put on a new appearance to him, all at once, and he felt
miserable and ashamed. Mr. Highton had assured him that he wanted the
documents only for a short time, to compare some figures and numbers,
which would help him the better to locate a claim of his own, about
which there was some difficulty.
But Jimmy's confidence in his whilom friend was weakening with a
rapidity that made him very uncomfortable; and the longer he meditated
the more certain he was that he had been fooled and that Mr. Highton had
purposely deserted him.
He began to realize how much easier it is to take a wrong step than to
retrace it. It seemed to him that he could _never_ return home and tell
the dismal tale of the poor pony's fate, and of his own guilt in the
matter of taking those papers from his father's desk.
What then was to be done? Jimmy did not know, and his unhappy
reflections became so unbearable that he could no longer rest, and he
hurried on again.
The sun beat down upon him, his thirst increased and he grew faint with
hunger and weariness; but he walked on and on, hoping every moment to
see some sign of human habitation. But he hoped in vain; not so much as
a herder's hut met his eye. On every side stretched the sea-like
prairie, and no living thing was to be seen.
And so for weary hours he toiled on, distracted with thirst, sick for
lack of food and growing more bewildered and disheartened with every
step. At length he sank down, utterly exhausted.
It was then about four o'clock in the afternoon, and he had been walking
beneath a burning sun since early morning, and had had no morsel of food
or drop of water since the evening before.
He fell into a sort of stupor, and while he thus lay dark clouds began
to gather, and mutterings of thunder rolled along the sky. And presently
the sun was obscured and a kind of weird twilight settled down upon the
prairie.
For a time the thunder ceased, the air grew thick and close, and the
silence of death seemed to have fallen upon the world.
Then came a mighty roar, as if the elements were defying each other, and
the rain was dashed upon the earth or swirled through the air with
furious force.
The dashing of the rain upon his face aroused Jimmy, and he rose up,
fighting against the wind, which threatened to take him off his feet,
and, holding out his hands, he gathered enough of the down-pouring flood
to appease his thirst.
Then he staggered on, buffeted by the wind and blinded by the driving
rain, turning this way and that to escape the lashings of the deluge
that swept over him, until his strength gave out, and he dropped to the
ground more dead than alive.
At that instant he felt himself picked up and whirled through the air as
if he had been a feather.
Then he knew no more until, opening his eyes, he found the sun shining
upon his face and the clear, blue sky above him.
But the sun was not more than an hour high, and the thought that he must
pass another night alone upon the prairie was discouraging.
His clothes were wet as they could be, and the cool wind, blowing upon
him, made him tremble and shiver.
He was bruised and sore and weak, but happily his "ride upon the storm"
had not resulted in serious injury. There were no broken bones to
disable him.
The water he had drank had refreshed him greatly, but oh, how hunger
gnawed upon him!
He sat up and looked about him in shivering despair. He found that he
had been lying upon the verge of a fissure in the ground, such as are
often come upon in prairie countries.
It was but a few feet deep and three or four wide at the top. He threw
himself forward, face downward, and looked listlessly into this cleft in
the earth, thinking that perhaps, if he had strength enough left to
gather an armful or two of grass to lie upon, a bed down there,
sheltered as it would be from the wind, would be more comfortable than
where he then was.
But as his dull eyes roved over the bottom of the narrow chasm, they saw
something that put new life and hope into his despairing heart.
A few yards from where he lay, evidently blown there by the storm that
had just passed, were three or four prairie-chickens, huddled together,
with drenched plumage, their lives drowned out of them.
The trench had been filled with water by the tremendous fall of rain,
which had now soaked away through the fissures in its bottom, and the
chickens had lodged against some unevenness of surface, as the water
subsided.
Jimmy descended into the gap and quickly secured one of the birds; then
he looked about for some means of cooking it. He was ravenously hungry,
but could he eat raw meat?