Silence and loneliness were supreme everywhere.
He was glad when they left it all behind, and entered the mountains through a pass fairly broad and sufficient for horsemen.

He did not feel so much oppression here.

It was natural for mountains to be lonely and silent also, particularly in winter, and his spirits rose again as they rode between the white ridges.
At the entrance to the pass a mountaineer named Reed met them.

It was he who had brought the news of the latest exploit by Slade and Skelly, but he had returned quickly to warn some friends of his in the foothills and was back again in time to meet the soldiers.

He was a long thin man of middle age, riding a large black mule.