Were the little animal to overdo itself, nothing in the future could be more certain than that his master would never see the Trednoke ranch again.

It seemed unusually hot, even for that region.
There was little in the way of outward incident to relieve the monotony of the journey.

Now and then a short, thick rattlesnake, with horns on its ugly head, wriggled out of his path.

Now and then his horse's hoof almost trod upon a hideous, flat lizard, also horned.

Here and there the uncouth projections of a cactus pushed upwards out of the dust; some of these the mustang nibbled at, for the sake of their juice.