Let him alone with his own business, can't you ?" "Well, ain't we leaving him alone ?" "No, you ain't--'cept when he ain't here.

I don't wonder the boy grabs his hat and skips out when you git to going." "Well, what did we say to him now?
Tell us what we said to him that was so dreadful." "Aw, thunder an' lightnin'!" cried the old man with a sudden great snarl.

They seemed to know by this ejaculation that he had emerged in an instant from that place where man endures, and they ended the discussion.

The old man continued his breakfast.
During his walk that morning Hawker visited a certain cascade, a certain lake, and some roads, paths, groves, nooks.

Later in the day he made a sketch, choosing an hour when the atmosphere was of a dark blue, like powder smoke in the shade of trees, and the western sky was burning in strips of red.