=4.= What augury in orniscopic words
=5.= Did yon swart sibyls on the morning scrawl?
A rhetorical question to indicate the dread interest Hugh felt
in the question “Sioux or Ree?”
Note the fancy that words are written on the sky.
=13.= In their van
=14.= Aloof and lonely rode a gnarled old man etc.
“Gnarled” like a tree. A most vivid picture of Elk Tongue, a
famous Ree chief.
=16.= Beneath his heavy years, yet haughtily
=17.= He wore them like the purple of a king.
His great age is like a royal robe. “Gray hairs are a crown of
glory.”
=18.= Keen for a goal, as from the driving string etc.
In how many and significant ways his face is described in these
lines: keen for a goal, like a flinty arrow-head, with a
brooding stare. Directions for a statue could scarcely be more
exact or more full of suggestion.
Define: ruck, augury, orniscopic, swart, sibyl, attenuated,
gnarled, piebald.