Roger soon had the horses ready. Then the tired boys started off. They did not venture to mount, but walked ahead of their animals, leading them. This was on account of the darkness, which was so intense that neither could see more than ten feet ahead; and even at that distance the trees bordering the little rise looked dim and uncanny, as though they might be ghosts----at least, that was the way they appeared to the imagination of Roger.
For half an hour they walked along in this fashion, sometimes stumbling over obstacles they could not see, but making steady progress all the while.
"I think we have come far enough, now," remarked Dick, finally, as he stopped in his tracks.
"Oh! I'm glad to hear you say that!" exclaimed the other, with a long drawn sigh, for he was very tired after that hot day's journey.
They soon had the horses staked out again, close at hand. Neither of the boys expected to get very much sleep that night, for there seemed to be some strange foreboding in the atmosphere, that affected them.
As they had done on many another occasion, the boys divided the night into watches, each taking turn and turn about in keeping awake.
It was a moonless night, though the stars were bright enough. After a warm day, the myriads of insects seemed to be unusually noisy, and kept up a chorus that was soothing, rather than irritating, to the senses of Dick Armstrong, as he sat with his back braced against the trunk of a small tree.
Roger was sound asleep alongside; and, sitting there, Dick could hear the constant cropping of the horses as they continued to make a supper from the grass that grew in the open spaces, and still preserved its sweetness, despite the lateness of the season.
Now and again some distant sound would cause him to raise his head to listen; it might be the weird howl of a prairie wolf, the strange cry of a coyote, a new animal to both boys; or the hoot of an owl perched in some dead tree, and signaling to its mate.
But the night wore on, without anything out of the ordinary occurring, and Dick even began to imagine that his fears must have been groundless. Still, he could not regret having taken precautions; for it paid to be on the safe side always.