The descent proved to be sharp, and when daylight came they were in a region where the snow was very light. They saw the plains before them and below them, and they believed that by noon they would be entirely beyond the expanse of snow. "By the time those Comanches discover our abandoned home," said Bill Breakstone, "it’s likely that we’ll be days and days away. We’ll never see them again because our journey leads west and always west, far beyond the Comanche country." "I learned from Billy," said Phil, "that it was really Black Panther who was in command back there. Billy had been with another band, farther west, which last spring was incorporated into the more powerful force of Black Panther. The chief was treating Billy well, and was going to adopt him as his son." "Then I am glad that we shall fight no more with Black Panther," said Arenberg. "So am I," said Breakstone thoughtfully. "I suppose the chief has acted according to his lights. If we’d been roaming over the country for ages, we’d fight for it, too. Well, good-by to you, Black Panther, I wish you many a good buffalo hunt, but that no white people may fall into your hands." At noon, as they had expected, they passed through the last thin sheet of snow and entered warm country. But it was not desert here. It was a region of buffalo grass, with shallow streams and scattered timber. It was very pleasant after so much riding through the snow, and, after resting an hour by the side of one of the rivulets, they kept on until night. They were not compelled to spend any time in hunting a camp, but stopped under a clump of trees, turned the horses loose to graze on the plentiful grass, and spread their own blankets on the turf. They were too tired to light a fire, but they ate heartily of the cold food, and then lay back comfortably on the blankets. Billy fell asleep in a few minutes, but the others did not yet feel the desire for slumber. The ride of a day and half a night had not been hard, but, as much of that ride had been downward, the change was wonderful. Gone was the deep snow, gone the biting winds. They wrestled with neither the ice nor the desert, but lay upon a carpet of pine needles and breathed an air that came, crisp with life, from the mountains. Bill Breakstone luxuriated in it, and finally, observing that the others were not asleep, he sat up. "Boys," he said, "I think the time has come for me to tell you about the errand that has brought me so far, and that’s going to take me a lot farther. I haven’t said anything about the nature of it before, because it was the one that could wait longest. Sit up and look at what I’m going to show you."