He was a dark, sturdy young man, with an open,
laughing face. As a child, he had adored tales of travel and far-away
adventure, and had always evinced great courage and endurance, returning
home enraptured from interminable rambles, and never uttering complaints,
however badly his feet might be blistered. And withal he possessed a most
orderly mind, ever carefully arranging and classifying his little
belongings in his drawers, and looking down with contempt on the
haphazard way in which his sisters kept their things.
Later on, as he grew up, he became thoughtful, as if he were vainly
seeking around him some means of realizing his two-fold craving, that of
discovering some new land and organizing it properly. One of the
last-born of a numerous family, he no longer found space enough for the
amplitude and force of his desires. His brothers and sisters had already
taken all the surrounding lands, and he stifled, threatened also, as it
were, with famine, and ever sought the broad expanse that he dreamt of,
where he might grow and reap his bread. No more room, no more food! At
first he knew not in which direction to turn, but groped and hesitated
for some months.
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