All that he had ever heard or read of the wild country remained in his mind.

He cared nothing about the towns or the fame of cities, but these deep-worn trails of shaggy beasts filled him with joy.

Their histories were more to him than were the wars of Cyrus and Hannibal.

He questioned all the men he met, and their wisdom became his.
Slowly the movers wound their way up the broad, sandy river which came from the wilder spaces of the West.

The prairie was gone.