I told him that his bairns would be great folks some day, and that their proudest boast would be that their father had ridden on this errand.

Oh, and all the rest of the easy consolations.
If it had been me, I would not have been muckle cheered.

It's well I never married, for I would not have had the courage to leave my fireside." We were now getting into a new and far lovelier country.

The heavy forests and swamps which line the James and the York had gone, and instead we had rolling spaces of green meadowland, and little hills which stood out like sentinels of the great blue chain of mountains that hung in the west.

Instead of the rich summer scents of the Tidewater, we had the clean, sharp smell of uplands, and cool winds relieved the noontide heat.