"This journey took place in a part of Canada which lies in the northwestern part of the great sprawling province of Ontario. It is a vast area of deeply wooded wilderness—of endless chains of lonely lakes and rushing rivers. Thousands of miles of country roads, rough timber lanes, overgrown tracks leading to abandoned miles, and unmapped trails snake across its length and breadth."
These are the opening lines of the novel. They effectively set the stage for an element of the story that is going to be essential: setting. The story is an adventure in which three animal protagonists must make their way across this area in order to reunite with their master. The choice of opening the novel with this broad descriptive survey of the setting precisely because the harshness of that setting is so integral. The writer herself was a native of the U.K. who did not even emigrate to Canada until well into her adulthood. The narrator therefore could be viewed as someone who is describing a wilderness unlike anything they or most readers have ever dealt with themselves. Even in the year the novel was published, 1961, the idea of thousands of miles of untamed wilderness such as that described here seems almost impossible to actually conceive. This opening passage creates not just a visual portrait of the terrain upon which the story takes place. It also serves to convey the idea of the story existing outside the normal environs of most people's life experience.
"He left no trace of his progress; branches parted slightly here and there, sometimes there was a momentarily rustling of dried leaves, but never a twig cracked, and not a stone was dislodged from under his soft, sure feet."
One of the animals making the incredible journey across the rugged Canadian wilderness is a Siamese cat named Tao. This quote offers insight into the manner by which the narrative addresses the concept of animals as leading characters. It is the narrator, not the cat himself, who is lending the animal a bit of personification here by insinuating that the animal has the consciousness of a human trying to avoid detection. This passage is a description of no mere animal instinct, though it clearly does convey that concept as well. The insistence that Tao is very carefully making his way through the rough terrain in a way intended to "leave no trace of his progress" is a perfect example of the means by which the book avoids outright anthropomorphizing its animal characters while also endowing them with certain human attributes. The precision in the details of what steps the cat takes to evade detection—avoiding the sound of crackling vegetation and leaving behind no visual clues of his presence—is a way of showing how the cat seems to think like a human without coming right out and having the cat tell the reader.
"This was no bold, aggressive adventurer—only a weary old dog; hungry not only for food but for affection. There was no shadow of doubt in either what they would do—keep him, if he would stay, and give him what he needed."
This quote is describing an elderly couple named Mackenzie. The husband and wife have discovered Bodger, an old Bull Terrier that is one of the pets attempting to make the incredible journey. The dog is in bad shape, with scars and a broken tail contributing to its overall near-deathly appearance. It looks for all the world exactly like what a "bold, aggressive adventurer" that had never enjoyed the privileges and comforts of domestication would look like. The Mackenzies are well acquainted with such wild strays as much as they are acquainted with pets receiving tender care from their owners. As a result, they quickly conclude that Bodger is a lost pet badly in need of assistance. The quote provides insight into the characterization of the humanity of the Mackenzies as they take into consideration even the possibility of adopting an old dog that does not seem long for this world. This passage illuminates a larger aspect of the novel. Humans are not the enemies of the animals. The three pets must deal with natural predators, but throughout the story they often encounter other human beings like the Mackenzies who facilitate their passage across the wilderness.
