That person would have gone to Rossland with the deliberate and businesslike intention of sifting the matter to the bottom that he might disprove his own responsibility and set himself right in his own eyes.
In self-defense he would have given Rossland an opportunity to break down with cold facts the disturbing something which his mind had unconsciously built up.

But the new Alan revolted.

He wanted to carry the thing away with him, he wanted it to live, and so it went with him, uncontaminated by any truths or lies which Rossland might have told him.
They left Cordova early in the afternoon, and at sunset that evening camped on the tip of a wooded island a mile or two from the mainland.
Olaf knew the island and had chosen it for reasons of his own.

It was primitive and alive with birds.

Olaf loved the birds, and the cheer of their vesper song and bedtime twitter comforted Alan.