One followed the other with a space between, so that Iberville, in the first, looking back, could see a diminishing procession, the last seeming large and weird--almost a shadow--as it were a part of the weird atmosphere.

On either side was that soft plumbless diffusion, and ahead the secret of untravelled wilds and the fortunes of war.
As if by common instinct, all gossip ceased soon after they left the shore, and, cheerful as was the French Canadian, he was--and is--superstitious.

He saw sermons in stones, books in the running brooks, and the supernatural in everything.

Simple, hardy, occasionally bloody, he was ever on the watch for signs and wonders, and a phase of nature influenced him after the manner of a being with a temperament.
Often, as some of the woodsmen and river-men had seen this strange effect, they now made the sacred gesture as they ran on.

The pure moisture lay like a fine exudation on their brown skins, glistened on their black hair, and hung from their beards, giving them a mysterious look.