When he had got used to the frantic jolting, Edgar found the drive exhilarating.

Poplar bluffs, little ponds, a lake shining amid tall sedges, belts of darkgreen wheat, went by; and while the horses plunged through tall barley-grass or hauled the vehicle over clods and ruts, the same vast prospect stretched away ahead.

It filled the lad with a curious sense of freedom: there was no limit to the prairies--one could go on and on, across still wider stretches beyond the horizon.
By and by, however, they ran in among low sandy hills, dotted with dwarf pines here and there, and the pace slackened.

The grass was thin, the wheels sank in deep, loose sand, and the sun was getting unpleasantly hot.

For half an hour they drove on; and then the team came to a standstill, necked with spume, at the foot of a short, steep rise.