noon
He started across the plain in a general southwesterly direction , intending to travel for about a day perhaps , camp for the night , and return on the following day to his mountains . He walked along with a bold , swinging step and did not look back for an hour , but when he turned at last he felt as if he had ventured upon the open ocean in a treacherous canoe . There were the mountains , high , sheltered , and friendly , while off to the south and west the plains rolled away in swell after swell as long and desolate as an untraveled sea , and as hopeless . Dick saw toward noon some antelope grazing on the horizon , but he was not a hunter now , and he did not trouble himself to seek a shot . An hour or two later he saw a considerable herd of buffaloes scattered about over the plain , nibbling the short bunch grass that had lived under the snow . They were rather an inspiring sight , and Dick felt as if , in a sense , they were furnishing him company . They drove away the desolation and loneliness of the plains , and his inclinations toward them were those of genuine friendliness .