our own selves made sech es that, an’ he took an’ cut that thar place cl’ar plumb out’n the Scripturs an’ the worl’ to come. But he sure hed a heap o larnin’, only some said a sight on hit war heathen, an’ that war why he lef’ all the hell an’ damnation outen his religion.”

Thus enlightened concerning many things, both of this particular bit of mountain world, which was all the world to his companion, and of the world to come, Thryng rode on, quietly amused.

Sometimes he dismounted to investigate plants new to him, or to gather a bit of moss or fungi or parasite — anything that promised an elucidating hour with his splendid microscope. For these he always carried at the pommel of his saddle an air-tight box.