Great report !

My takeaways....

1) I imagine that the guy with that creepy loving stare, must be like a Woods Fairy out there.
Skipping along in the forest barefoot, while poor Nick has to keep an eye on him while watching for game.

2) Driftin' I am certain is withholding secret game-calling poems and songs that have been passed down through the ages.
Reading his delicate and finely crafted prose, I get an occasional whiff of these deep, wonderful secrets.

3) And Nick marches on like the good soldier that he is, with the poet of the left and the fairy on the right.