Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/174

 peaks, softened by the intervening miles, gradually taking on a clearer view, as the separating distance was lessened. To the northward country was undulating or level, mostly covered with the billowy, succulent lush grass, which makes the region one of the finest grazing grounds in the world.

Halting Firebug, so that his gait should not interfere with his sight, the young man studied the outlook in that direction. He was thus employed when Shaghark drew rein beside him.

“Wal, younker, what do ye make of it?”

“It seems to me,” replied Alden, lowering the binocular, “that I can see a faint, bluish shadowy outline of something in the horizon. Is it a mountain range?”

“That’s what it is,” said Shaghark; “ye’re looking at the Medicine Bow Mountains, which lay a good many miles south; afore long they’ll fade out of yer sight; see anything else?”

Alden raised the glasses again and studied the section.

“I see the white tents of an emigrant train well to the southwest and several miles behind