Nothing he could say was listened to; these simple, straightforward people understood nothing but facts, and the defeat of the gipsies and the discovery of the spring seemed to them little less than supernatural.

Besides which, in innumerable little ways Felix's superior knowledge had told upon them.
His very manners spoke of high training.

His persuasive voice won them.
His constructive skill and power of planning, as shown in the palisades and enclosure, showed a grasp of circumstances new to them.

This was a man such as they had never before seen.
They began to bring him disputes to settle; he shrank from this position of judge, but it was useless to struggle; they would wait as long as he liked, but his decision they would have, and no other.

Next came the sick begging to be cured.