Another word, and with a snort the great-hearted stallion swept up
the slope, with Black Bart at his old work, skirting ahead and choosing the
easiest way. That was another great handicap in favor of the fugitive, and
every advantage counted with redoubled significance now, every foot of
distance saved, every inch of climb avoided.
A new obstacle confronted him, for the low, rolling hills were everywhere
checkered with squares and oblongs of plowed ground, freshly turned, and
guarded by tall fences of barbed-wire. They could be jumped, but jumping
was no easy matter for a tiring horse, and Barry saw, with a sigh of
relief, a sharp gulch to the left which cut straight through that region of
broken farms and headed north and east pointing like an arrow in the
direction of the fords. He swung down into it without a thought and pressed
on. The bottom was gravelly, here and there, from the effect of the waters
which had once washed through the ravine and cut these sides so straight,
but over the greater part of the bottom sand had drifted, and the going was
hardly worse than the hilly stretches above.
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