"I wonder if there is any other kind of worldly knowledge that I know as little about as I did of scouting when we started out?
My eyes have been opened to my own ignorance.

I used to have the conceit that we two could play a fair hand at any game of war they could get up for our entertainment.

But these Kentuckians give me points every hundred yards that I never so much as dreamed of.

Theirs is the wisdom of serpents when compared with our dove-like innocence." "I like dove-like innocence," interrupted Abe.
"But did you ever see anybody that could go through the country as these fellows can?
It's just marvelous.

They know every short cut to every point, and they know just where to go every time to see way ahead without being seen themselves.