Answer: The tone of this passage seemed to be mystical because when it seemed that all hope was lost, he found it sitting neatly in a bed of yellow moss on the bank of a stream. Some words that contributed to the tone were bewildering and discouraging, and then the transition into beautiful and soft nest. The tone would have changed if it was replaced by the new phrase because it would have changed the tone from a positive connotation to a negative one.
Explanation: it was right there
gawkish: can also mean clumsy or awkward
Hopefully this helps.