He almost fancied that in some far-off age he had seen all these things before.

The forests and the mountains beckoned in friendly fashion; they had no terrors, for even their secrets lay open before him.

He seemed to breathe a newer and keener air than that of the old land left behind, and his mind expanded with the thought of fresh pleasures to come.

The veteran guide, Ross, alone observed how the boy learned, through intuition, ways of the wilderness that others achieved only by hard experience.
They had met fair weather, an important item in such a journey, and there had been no illness, beyond trifling ailments quickly cured.

As they traveled slowly and at their ease, it took them a long time to pass through the settled regions.