Gravity and unhappiness occupied him.

His senses, nevertheless, were alert.

He heard the low roar of the flooded brook, the whir of rising grouse ahead, the hoofs of deer on stones, the song of spring birds.

He had an eye also for the wan wild flowers in the shaded corners.

Presently he led the horse out of the willows into the open and up a low-swelling, long slope of fragrant sage.