CHAPTER XV.
THE CHEQUE The North-west breeze was fresher than usual when, one afternoon, Helen rode through a belt of sand-hills on her way to the Charnock farm.
Clouds of dust blew about the horse's feet, and now and then fine grit whistled past her head.

She had her back to the boisterous wind, but she urged the horse until they got behind a grove of scrub poplars.

Then she rolled up her veil and wiped her face before she looked about.
Round, dark clouds rolled across the sky, as they had done since spring, but for nearly a month none had broken.

A low ridge, streaked by flying shadows, ran across the foreground, and waves of dust rose and fell about its crest.

Sandy belts are common on parts of the prairie, and when they fringe cultivated land are something of a danger in a dry season, because the loose sand travels far before the wind.
Beyond the sand-hills, the level grass was getting white and dry, and in the distance the figures of a man and horses stood out against a moving cloud of dust.