Rolling R boys were too much like home folks to bother about, having been accustomed to seeing Mary V in strange and various guises since she was a tiny tot.
Southward she rode, and as swiftly as was wise if she valued the well-being of her horse.

Movies will have it that nothing short of a gallop is tolerated by riders in the West; whereas Mary V had been taught from her childhood up that she must never "run" her horse unless there was need of it.

She therefore contented herself with ambling along the trail at a distance-devouring trail-trot, slowing her horse to a walk on the rising slopes and urging him a little with her spurred heels on the levels.

She did not let him lag--she could not, if she covered the distance she had in her mind to cover.
Away over to the south--almost to Sinkhole Camp, in fact--was a ridge that was climbable on horseback.

Not every ridge in that country was, and Mary V was not fond of walking in the sand on a hot day.