I daresay she knew him as well as she knew the old rock.

Very old rock.

The rock of ages--and the aged man--landmarks of her youth.

Then the mules started walking smartly forward, with the three peasants striding alongside of them, and vanished between the trees.

These fellows were most likely sent out by her uncle the Cura.
"It was a peaceful scene, the morning light, the bit of open country framed in steep stony slopes, a high peak or two in the distance, the thin smoke of some invisible _caserios_, rising straight up here and there.