Blue Pete Half Breed

Excerpt from Blue Pete Half Breed
Sunshine everywhere, brittle, unclouded, relentless - a glare that, to the very horizon, saturated and palled and blinded. Heat that withered what it touched streamed upward like a wave from the prairie, as well as downward from the dazzling canopy overhead. Not a breath stirred dead yellow grass or sage bush; and the half hidden carpet of prairie flowers - even the softer saffron of the cactus bloom - only reflected the blinding flame of sunlight.
One spot only of moving life was visible: a man, tall and straight, astride a black horse, both fighting grimly the pervading limpness, both preserving something of the air of authority and vigilance that never quite deserts the Mounted Police.