"In the meantime I notice that our late conductor has arranged a comfortable seat for you," he said.
The girl sat down, and looked about her.

It was very still in the bush, and the sound of running water drifted musically out of the silence.

From somewhere in the distance there also came a curious drumming which she did not know then was made by an axe, but it presently ceased, and the song of the river rose alone in long drowsy pulsations.

In front of and behind her stretched the rows of serried trunks which had grown to vastness of girth and stateliness with the centuries, and the girl, who was of quick perceptions, felt instinctively the influence of their age and silence.

There was, it seemed, something intangible but existent in this still land of shadow which reacted upon her pleasantly after the artificial gaieties and glitter of surface civilization.