"If this is the desert, then I think I prefer mountains," decided Stacy Brown. "It is not the desert. We have not reached it yet. This is the Diamond Range," replied Tom Parry, who was to guide the Pony Rider Boys across the great Nevada Desert. "We shall soon be there, however." "You'll know the place when you see it, Chunky," said Ned Rector. "And feel it, too, I guess," added Tad Butler under his breath. "We have the desert on each side of us now," continued the guide. "Were you to fire a rifle to the right or left, your bullet would fall on the baking alkali of the desert."