Indeed, Jack and I found ourselves interested in it
also. The ordinary tumbleweed, green when growing and gray when
tumbling, had long been familiar to us, but the red variety was
new. The old kind which we knew seldom grew more than two feet in
diameter; it was usually almost exactly round, and with its
finely branched limbs was almost as solid as a big sponge, and
when its short stem broke off at the top of the ground in the
fall it would go bounding away across the prairie for miles. The
red sort seemed to be much the same, except for its color and
size. We saw many six or seven feet, perhaps more, in diameter,
though they were rather flat, and not probably over three or four
feet high.
The first one we saw was on edge, and going at a great rate
across the prairie, bounding high into the air, and acting as if
it had quite gone crazy, as there was a strong wind blowing.
"Look at that overgrown red tumbleweed!" exclaimed Jack. "I
never saw anything like that before. Jump on the pony, Ollie, and
catch the varmint and bring it back here!"
Ollie was willing enough to do this, and the pony was willing
enough to go, so off they went.
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