"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere." - Nelson Mandela What does Mandela mean when he says this?

Which is the most effective paraphrase of the passage "six benches were left empty in every ship that evening when we pulled away from death. and this new grief we bore with us to sea: our precious lives we had, but not our friends" - the odyssey

The major was a little man with upturned mustaches. he had been in the war in libya and wore two wound-stripes. he said that if the thing went well he would see that i was decorated. i said i hoped it would go well but that he was too kind. i asked him if there was a big dugout where the drivers could stay and he sent a soldier to show me. i went with him and found the dugout, which was very good. the drivers were with it and i left them there. what effect does hemingway’s limited use of adjectives have? it slows down the narration by interrupting the action. it makes the few descriptive words he does use more vivid and forceful. it makes the narrator seem powerless and insincere. it prevents the readers from filling in the details with their own experiences.

The wind skittered playfully along the pathway, drawing leaves and bits of flowers along with it. which word gives the passage a cheerful mood?