And then we departed into the cold air, him in the lead and me behind on mule-back holding the rope of the other mule too. I had never been one fond of the country or mountains or any other ugly humps of dirt bristling with trees, and now here we were in the wilderness in almost the dead of winter and it seemed perilous beyond all measure to be venturing up to those heights. But I knew very well that my master would have it no other way, just as I knew his generosity was by no means of the stingy sort.
