Wildfire showed his keenness by zigzagging up the slope.
"Go ahead, you red devil!" yelled Slone.

He was much elated.

In that soft bank Wildfire would tire out while not hurting himself.
Slone watched the stallion in admiration and pity and exultation.
Wildfire did not make much headway, for he slipped back almost as much as he gained.

He attempted one place after another where he failed.
There was a bank of clay, some few feet high, and he could not round it at either end or surmount it in the middle.

Finally he literally pawed and cut a path, much as if he were digging in the sand for water.