noon
Finding a stream . Encampment . The next day the camp was struck and packed ; the oxen , rested and invigorated by roving over and cropping the rich grasses that grew in luxuriance along the banks of the river by which they had encamped , moved with a brisk step along their shady track , while the voices of the drivers sounded musically , reverberating through the stillness of the forest . Towards noon they came to one of those singularly interesting geological features of the west , a _ Prairie _ . This was something entirely new to the younger children , who had never been far from the place where they were born , and it very naturally surprised them to see such a boundless extent of territory , without a house , barn , or fence of any kind -- nothing but a waving mass of coarse rank grass . `` Oh ! father , '' cried little Benny , as the vast prairie burst on his sight , `` see what a great big farm somebody has got !