The significance is that he wasn't willing to let go of his chances of trying again. "They dragged Robert out the door, knees stiff, feet dragging."
Answer:
When he left the stricken city, he had put Secretary of War Henry Knox in charge of the government, giving the former general clear instructions to report to him weekly concerning the spread of yellow fever. But after a few days' close contact with the pestilence, Knox found that his warrior instinct had abandoned him.
No this sentences it has a idiom sentences, because it has the meaning with the simplifying that the meaning a word it is raining really outside. For example for rain metaphors sentences are It's raining cats and dogs. Save it for a raining day. Make it rain with money. It will never rains until it pours.
It will help you.
-Charlie
Have a great day