He knew now that there had always been a longing in his heart to hear the wind-chant in the firs . He had called that longing by other names , but he knew it now for what it was when , hearing , he was satisfied . He was a tall man with iron-grey hair and the face of a conqueror -- strong , pitiless , unswerving . Eagle eyes , quick to discern and unfaltering to pursue ; jaw square and intrepid ; mouth formed to keep secrets and cajole men to his will -- a face that hid much and revealed little . It told of power and intellect , but the soul of the man was a hidden thing . Not in the arena where he had fought and triumphed , giving fierce blow for blow , was it to be shown ; but here , looking down on the homeland , with the strength of the hills about him , it rose dominantly and claimed its own . The old bond held . Yonder below him was home -- the old house that had sheltered him , the graves of his kin , the wide fields where his boyhood dreams had been dreamed . Should he go down to it ? This was the question he asked himself . He had come back to it , heartsick of his idols of the marketplace . For years they had satisfied him , the buying and selling and getting gain , the pitting of strength and craft against strength and craft , the tireless struggle , the exultation of victory . Then , suddenly , they had failed their worshipper ; they ceased to satisfy ; the sacrifices he had heaped on their altars availed him nothing in this new need and hunger of his being . His gods mocked him and he wearied of their service . Were there not better things than these , things he had once known and loved and forgotten ? Where were the ideals of his youth , the lofty aspirations that had upborne him then ? Where was the eagerness and zest of new dawns , the earnestness of well-filled , purposeful hours of labour , the satisfaction of a good day worthily lived , at eventide the unbroken rest of long , starry nights ? Where might he find them again ? Were they yet to be had for the seeking in the old valley ? With the thought came a great yearning for home .
He had had many habitations , but he realized now XXXXX he had never thought of any of these places as home .
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