He was trembling with excitement so that he filled his pipe with difficulty.

By the time it was drawing well he was back examining his mental picture of the country.
West of Rickett about the same distance as Morgan Hills, ran the Wago Mountains, low, rolling ranges which would hardly form an impediment for a horseman.

Across these Barry might cut at a good speed on his western course, but some fifteen or twenty miles from Rickett he was bound to reach a most difficult barrier.

It was the Asper river, at this season of the year swollen high and swift with snow-water--a rare feat indeed if a man could swim his horse across such a stream.

There were only two places in which it could be forded.
About fifty miles north and a little east of the line from Rickett the Asper spread out into a broad, shallow bed, its streams dispersed for several miles into a number of channels which united again, farther down the course, and made the same strong river.